PNW Studios Consultation and Wellness

Adios people, I appreciate your time and opportunity to possible open your eyes or change your life

Say what mean, mean what you say.

Building a great relationship with your clients will not only entrust you to get them to enjoy the process of the journey to their goal (s) but be grateful with the experience you've displayed for them to want them to work with you again.

In most cases, dining out or friends/family gatherings is generally filled with 90% choices of carbs & fats. Plan your day accordingly and still have fun, guilt free while achieving your goal.

A recap on what's been going on the past month and an idea if things are at a stand still with any type of progress.

I'm alive

While waiting for our flight (delayed) figured I'd take the opportunity to refresh the podcast

Episode is a failed version of winging the topic instead of writing it down as I was previously but I guess you can only get better through failure

First off, I would love to thank for those that listen to my podcast and has told me personally, I really do appreciate it and I will continue to entertain thou hope also that you've learned a thing or two. There comes a point in not just our workouts but in life that when shit gets difficult, we convince ourselves that it's not worth pushing past the limit that stands in front of us. Call me old fashion but that sounds and smells like bullshit. Let me tell you why, unless your genetical gifted or a spoiled brat, pushing your limits is the only feasible way to progress. No amount of drugs or money will replace the satisfaction of accomplishment that stands before you. Working hard does pay off but in compound interest not instant gratification will be sustainable. When did hard work become a thing of the past, why are so many people so impatient, so hell bent in taking the easy way out. Some would blame social media, some would blame parenting, some would even blame others but I guarantee you that the same people that are pointing fingers won't come to realization of accepting the blame to themselves. Merely because they want to kid themselves to holding on to the idea that taking the easy way is the only way to what they want, putting that extra time, extra effort, extra evertything would not benefit them in the end. I think we kid ourselves for protection, comfort or just delusional. Somewhere down the road they either wasn't taught how to be sustainable or just got plain lazy knowing how much more work is needed to get what they want. If you were living on your own, what's your plan to being able to pay the rent/mortgage ? If you were hungry, what's your plan on being able to pay for food ? If you were wanting to go somewhere, what's your plan on payment of transportation ? My point is, regardless on what you want to do in life their needs to be a plan of effort to have your type of lifestyle sustainable. Don't think if shit hits the fan that you have others that will pick up the tab for you, once in a blue moon sure but your really not that important for others to sacrifice their own hard earned money to bail you out. A lot of people hold on to an idea of a fall back to which they don't invest fully in themselves of their own capabilities. Rise the fukk up and own your shit. I want to send out best wishes to everyone with love, health, wealth and positivity. Happy New Year !

First off, I would love to thank for those that listen to my podcast and has told me personally, I really do appreciate it and I will continue to entertain thou hope also that you've learned a thing or two. There comes a point in not just our workouts but in life that when shit gets difficult, we convince ourselfs that it's not worth pushing past the limit that stands in front of us. Call me old fashion but that sounds and smells like bullshit. Let me tell you why, unless your geneticle gifted or a spoiled brat, pushing your limits is the only feasable way to progress. No amount of drugs or money will replace the satisifaction of accomplishment that stands before you. Working hard does pay off but in compound interest not instant gratification will be sustainable. When did hard work become a thing of the past, why are so many people so impatient, so hell bent in taking the easy way out. Some would blame social media, some would blame parenting, some would even blame others but I guarantee you that the same people that are pointing fingers won't come to realization of accepting the blame to themselves. Merely because they want to kid themselves to holding on to the idea that taking the easy way is the only way to what they want, putting that extra time, extra effort, extra everything would not benefit them in the end. I think we kid ourselves for protection, comfort or just delusional. Somewhere down the road they either wasn't taught how to be sustainable or just got plain lazy knowing how much more work is needed to get what they want. If you were living on your own, what's your plan to being able to pay the rent/mortgage ? If you were hungry, what's your plan on being able to pay for food ? If you were wanting to go somewhere, what's your plan on payment of transportation ? My point is, regardless on what you want to do in life their needs to be a plan of effort to have your type of lifestyle sustainable. Don't think if shit hits the fan that you have others that will pick up the tab for you, once in a blue moon sure but your really not that important for others to sacrifice their own hard earned money to bail you out. A lot of people hold on to an idea of a fall back to which they don't invest fully in themselves of their own capabilities. Rise the fukk up and own your shit. I want to send out best wishes to everyone with love, health, wealth and positivity. Happy New Year !

Wow about 5 months since the last episode and it took a recent gathering from a friend to tell and show me that he listens to my podcast, thanks Bry ! And here to recap what's been going on, no excuse really but been lazy to create more episode because of the lack of or any interest at all of my podcast has demotivated  me to not do much with this platform. I'm sure I'm not alone when thinking this when creating content on whichever platform you use to share your thoughts, experience and such to the world. Besides staying consistent with my clients and seeing progress with most of them, the notorious excuse eludes others to going backwards with their progress instead of forwards. The typical yet hard to manage "the weekends" is what's killing my progress. And for most, this would be true but other factors come into play if it's a total loss but if you structure your week accordingly to the "write off" of a weekend then your progress still becomes progress. For example, if they were to stay on track with calories/macros between Mon-Thurs and with Fri-Sun being a write off, they could have structured their eating accordingly or even add a cardio workout session before the eating/drinking get out of hand. Regardless, most people have the most hardest times figuring this out and it comes down to discipline and planning to come out of it on top. Yes, you will make mistakes but if you have a goal to hit and a time limit on top of that then sacrifice is needed to succeed. Listen, being at a gathering has only a couple things that are different (topic of conversation, types of foods and even the way people act) and by you continuing to sabotage yourself during these events will only lead to being the same every single time you go to these gatherings (the way you look and feel) I've been listening to a lot of Dr. Jordan Peterson's podcast for some time now and a lot of his literature has given me more tools to be connected with my clients and my own personal life to not only better my self but hope to help others - since it's helped me. It's amazing to what I've learned through physiology and how most of it is relatable to health and wellbeing, I then rephrase to have it geared towards my clients challenges to help them become courage's and overcome these obstacles. I grow each day knowing that I'm impacting a life for the better and if you are listening to this, I thank you for the support and look forward to seeing and hearing that you've unlocked a side to yourself that you never thought possible.

There are individuals who get strong quickly, learn proper exercise form instantly and effortlessly, those who stay lean easily, those who seem to get lean with ease. Then there are those who must be extra diligent and more disciplined. Strength is harder to gain. Building muscle is a struggle. Losing fat is no easy feature. Keeping fat off is even more challenging. Are you the type of person that gains weight easily and must work harder than your friends/family to lose weight. As much as that sucks for you, its your reality. Acknowledge it, embrace it, and keep charging forward. Don't allow the challenge to be an excuse not to become the best version of yourself. Some days or even spans of time, you will not want to workout. Or your schedule will be unpredictably chaotic when getting in regular workouts is a challenge. It'll be up to you to do it anyway, in whatever capacity possible. Motivation is not always abundant, and neither is time. But don't let this dishearten you. Simply accept it as a fact of life, and then have a plan to deal with such situations. When things are good, take advantage. When your plans get wrecked, find a way to work with what you have. Just because it worked for your friend/family member doesn't mean it'll work for you, this applies to diet and fitness. Your friend/family member swears by there bodyweight workouts, but you may enjoy and respond better to squatting, deadlifting, and pressing progressively heavier weights and using bodyweight exercises to complement your barbell training. Your friend/family member swears that skipping breakfast helped them shed those last few stubborn pounds but skipping breakfast may mean struggling to get through the first part of the day for you. Everyone is different. Pay attention to how your body responds, and don't be afraid to take a different path. It's your body - be your own. Many will sorta kinda try a diet for a couple of weeks and when they don't look noticeably different, they blame the diet and exclaim, I knew that was too simple to work but in reality, they did not do it. Either they practiced the guidelines sporadically, or didn't do them long enough. Don't look for something complex or advanced until you master the basics. I mean doing the proven things - eat mostly real food, eat sufficient protein, make sleep a priority, strength train at least 2x a week - for many months. Be honest with yourself; are you doing the things you know are important, consistently? If not, how can you change that, starting today ? There is no best diet, only what's best for you, don't allow dogma to cloud your judgement.

Just last month we lost our beloved young 7 yr old standard schnauzer - Boger. A few of his traits were known to be notoriously barking a lot having knowing or not, the dog or person but very friendly once the barking is out of the way (most of the time) An excellent guard dog, strong willed, high spirited, intelligent and most of all loyal. And what I've learned from his time with us was all those exact traits that I was looking for in having him in the first place, and one main reason was to be able to have him alive enough to know that we were ready to have a family because raising a pup and children have similar principles. For example: discipline, patience, feeding, bathing, playtime ... you get the idea. Anyway, while the house will never be the same and our daily routines is changed the lasting impression he left will have us moving forward for the better as a family and individually different for the family members. I can't speak for my family but with me; during my lifetime I lost my way of having progressive change be apart of my regimen of life (if that makes sense) like I mean, I made a list on things of personal, as a couple (wife) and as a family I want worked on to better our relationship and personal growth but as mentioned I was basically stuck in mud for sometime and getting comfortable. I feel as though that Boger knew that and decided to sacrifice himself to give me a reminder of what needs to be done still. Pretty harsh come to think of it but the way I operate actually - zero to a hundred. It's a fukked up analogy but it's what makes sense to me. Along the way of life, we forget things that we generally stand by to get us to where and what we want in life - sacrifice is one thing I've always stood behind. With that, moving forward will be a bit easier because I will not let Boger's life be of waste and in honor of what he's done for myself will ultimately help me achieve the completion of the list. Because I understood or at least accept the way he departed, I'm able to not let the grieving process cripple me into being useless to my family and the world.

By definition a personal trainer is an individual who has earned a certification that demonstrates they have achieved a level of competency for creating and delivering safe and effective exercise programs for apparently healthy individuals and groups or those with medical clearance to exercise. Now I feel nowadays because social media is the source of what drives most people into buying into hype or getting into trends that claim to work for people looking to achieve quick and easy results - are not categized as personal trainers but fitness influencers. And with this shift in the fitness industry, personal trainers and influencers sells the idea of losing weight without the amount of sacrifice, discipline and commitment that's needed to achieve the goal. They will also use buzz words to get your attention as opposed to the real deal of what they are getting themselves into. I am guilty to say that I use to fall into this category before realizing that sales is the most important driving factory to companies of the fitness industry, which makes absolute sense and not arguing about. I am in no means a sales person nor looking to learn how to because I rather educate customers to their goals as opposed to selling them into their goals. I can sleep well knowing I didn't guilt customers to buying a certain amount of sessions to possibly achieve their goals. I don't really know when this shift will ever go back to normal of a point that because of what most people have been dealing with during the pandemic and such, will being a genuine person be a thing of the past or just prey on the weak and milk it till it's dry.

No matter how hard you think you are as an individual, I think balance is critical not only as a person but for parenting - it just make things more bearable. Now, I'm speaking about this because I've been given the task to play the role of single parenting for 7 days and already into the 2nd day I understand the importance of having both parties as parents in the child's life. Like I mean for me, I'm the enforcer and well the mother is the nurture. And quickly I'm discovering that being just the enforcer is not playing out very well for my sanity nor my relationship with my child. So I'm resorting to a discomfort feeling of showing some nurture characteristics to quickly de-escalate the situation(s). Now to say that I totally understand how single parenting is like, is nowhere near the struggles they face on a daily,weekly,monthly to yearly basis. I mean I'm fortunate to be self employed and stable with my career enough to be able to afford "x" amount of days to be able to hold down the fort, I could also pawn the child off to relatives for him to be watched while I put in some hours of work but I hold myself responsible to doing my duty. This experience will definitely strengthen our bond with the opportunity to fine tune my abilities as a father and an individual because I believe the fundamentals of life is overlooked as we get older, and if I want my child to have thrive thru adversity when faced upon - the basics of problem solving starts at home with consistent reps of discipline and patience. I'm probably leaving out other important characteristics for the child to adhere too but from what I'm seeing with the young generation these days, lack of discipline and patience are undervalued - as a parent you want your child to have the skills and backbone to be able to withstand the bullshit that comes along with life. Which is why I come back to the point of being able to sustain a balance relationship with your child as a single parent, being able to quickly adapt to a characteristics your not fond of. But it needs to be done in order to give your child the best chances to succeeding in his/her life. A helping hand shouldn't be ignored when offered but never abused.

So I commented on a post on LinkedIn about the stigma surrounding mental health and majority of the hits of the comments came out basically saying that I don't know didly and ignorant about the subject. Here's the context to the topic - "I'm absolutely 100% for the support of mental health but to say you feel alone in the struggle and continue to live your life without help or any form of positive progression is .. an excuse for attention. The internet alone gives you limitless resources to learn to overcome such a challenge, I mean the internet is what probably got people in such a vulnerable mental state in the first place. If virtual aid doesn't do it for you then I'm sure around a community you have access to has a form of support group. If seeking help from strangers isn't your thing then utilize your friends/family as a support cast. Help is a 2 way street - quit playing the victim. Put In The Work. Am I wrong to say this ?

So we all think, day dream, wish, etc. etc..... about going away on vacation. Absolutely nothing wrong with taking time off for yourself or with loved ones together to take a break from the daily routine chaos or just bored and got nothing better to do. Now, the thing is that some people take vacations but take along their work with them. I mean what's the point of that ? The entire purpose of the vacation was to get away from work and other stressful matters in your life, am I wrong ? A good chunk of people complain that they are over worked, stressed out, have no time for this and that but yet when the opportunity is there to just relax - they don't, they are still programmed to work. WHY ? I think the reason why people work when their on vacation is because they are not fulfilled with what they do, selfish, greedy or just oblivious to the situation. Regardless on why they work during moments of relaxation, I believe the moment you set aside time to go on vacation and be in it, take the limited opportunity to do so. As you can tell from how the world has been lately, it's uncertain to know when you can get your next wind of vacay time. When your on vacation, be in the moment. We already live in such a fast paced world, take your vacay slow and actually enjoy where you are and especially whom your with. The way I see it, until your on vacation - your putting in the work every single day. Which is why, come vacation time is down time - you want happiness, you got to balance your life out. But what they don't tell you is, vacations are a luxury not a necessity. You are only one that knows when you need a vacay and when you know, you will plan accordingly to when and how your going to go about it. Put In The Work

Happy New Year and I'm glad to bring this podcast back to life as I've been pretty MIA with life and such laziness. Well, we are in the 2nd year of this pandemic and even with a good chunk of the province of Ontario vaccinated including myself, we are again in a lockdown situation with the gyms without proven evidence. I am though currently still able to work at the gym through my affiliation with a physio clinic that allows me to be a physiotherapist assistance - so I am still able to keep a good amount of my clients to continue forward. I will say however, a lot of people started their year sick and tested positive with covid and just recently recovered enough to get back to work at the gym. Now from my understanding, we may or may not eventually catch some sort of virus and get sick BUT the most important part of it all is how fast we can recover and I feel this is where the government of Ontario has poorly guided the people into believing that the vaccine shot is the only line of defense through this pandemic. I believe through adequate nutrition, exercise and lifestyle, you can withhold yourself from being sick and or recovery a lot faster from illness. Why to this day the "professionals" of the health board doesn't speak of methods like this, instead they push for the needle and however many of them to get - baffles me into realizing that those "professionals" don't really care for the people and just in it for the money. Everything and everyone around us has changed not for the better but for the worse of not being able to push through adversity and it has definitely exposed people and businesses of their lack of a better word - ability to deal with shit hitting the fan. We live in a world of uncertainty but still can't think or do things on our own and have fear overwhelm peoples ability to take action. So my goal this year is to bring value to the health and fitness community by doing a better job in upkeeping this podcast to more content in bringing you closer to not only your fitness goals but a healthier and happier YOU. Put In The Work.

Come Aug 1 2021, I have achieved to be sober of alcohol for 1 year. The reason why I chose to do so was to mentality prep myself for my skydiving adventure to my birthday this year, the 1 year journey wasn't bad at all - I've always been able to stay committed and discipline towards all goals I set. The one thing I can say about being sober for this long was that my mind has become a lot sharper - like able to think clearer, not second guess myself and becoming more humble. About a week and a half left til the jump, I'm getting more and more anxious - my mind is challenging me more and more closer to date. Consistently reminding myself of how much stronger I've gotten to date since the pandemic lockdown started, my fear of heights play to factor, my fear of loss if shit hits the fan and my fear of regret if I don't end up doing it. The punchline is the possibility of fear dictating what I want to do, but i feel fear heightens your senses and awareness; it keeps us alert and helps in better preparation. Sometimes fear stems from real threats, but it can also originate from imagined dangers. As we grow older, I think our imagination becomes more of a threat because of how much we can possibly loss. Moving forward after my 1 year mark, I'm still in debate on whether or not to continue this sober life or get back to my wild days but one things for sure is that everyone has a fear inside of them to overcome at some point in their life because without doing so will inhibit you to living life to it's fullest.

We have all heard about how recovery is the most crucial part of obtaining your goal(s), but do you really know ? Many still feel guilty when they take a day off. One way to help relieve this guilt is to understand the many benefits that a rest day has to offer. For instance, rest is physically necessary for the muscles to repair, rebuild, and strengthen. For recreational athletes, building in rest days and engaging in active recovery can help maintain a better balance between home, work, and fitness goals. Exercise depletes the body's energy stores, or muscle glycogen. It also causes muscle tissue to break down. Giving adequate muscle recovery time allows the body to "fix" both of these issues, replenishing the body's energy stores and repairing damaged tissues. If sufficient time is not allowed to support these processes, the body will break down from repeated intensive exercise. This can reduce your performance. It may also result in damage to your skeletal muscles, which means more soreness and pain. The Principle of Adaptation states that when we undergo the stress of physical exercise, our body adapts and becomes more efficient. It's just like learning any new skill. At first, it's difficult but, over time, it becomes second nature. Once you adapt to a given stress, you require additional stress to continue to make progress. But there are limits to how much stress the body can tolerate before it breaks down and suffers injury. Doing too much work too quickly will result in injury or muscle damage. Doing too little too slowly will not result in any improvement. Too little rest and too few recovery days can lead to overtraining syndrome. The consequences of overtraining are many. Research has found that it can increase your body fat, raise your risk of dehydration, lower your libido, and worsen your mood.

Since the time of social media has risen, the sharks prey on the uneducated and that only weakens the creditability of hard working coaches, personal trainers, nutritionists and such. I mean you have a person that looks like they know what they are talking about, points out some facts that are believable and even offers his/her services for free for X amount of time (usually 30-60 days) Because of the influencers marketing skills so many people are creating an unhealthy relationship with their food and themselves through the promise of losing that excess weight or fat in a short period of time. Too many are being mislead to an unbalanced unsustainable eating lifestyle which will lead to mental breakdown or a negative shift in their lifestyle (depression, self worth or anxiety) I personally did the whole social media for some time but found that the market was saturated with fake shit that the real shit was being drowned out and hard to keep up with the tides, I mean I could of just stuck through it and let it be but it was just becoming way too much to try to stand out with the big boys/girls. Sex sales and unfortunately I don't have the "look" to sell myself to people. But I did however find an angle to thrive off and it was with my current clientele and educate from there. I mean like, I have a hand full of people that are on a steady schedule that are getting results through my teachings and it's actually gained me more clients through word of mouth (the best type of referral) Though it's a nice feature to have a social media post of all your doings and such but it's very hard to stay afloat with shit coaches, trainers and influencers selling high quality shit at a discount price. There are so many people feeling entitled of getting results at a short period of time because of what they go through on a daily not knowing the long term commitment not just to your physical self but your mentality on how you live your life. Yes it sucks seeing and knowing being that are genetically gifted at getting results at a short period of time but don't get it twisted that they don't also need to put in the work. People need to stop being lazy and begin to do their own homework on the things they need help with, like if your hiring someone to help you with your weight loss and need a meal plan (go educate yourself with some basics before forking over 100s of dollars with a cookie cutter program you can get yourself on the internet for free) and same goes with a workout plan. I make sure that people who hire me understand they that are hiring me for accountability - that's what any good coach, trainer and such should be about, yes there would be new certain information you can learn but it's knowing how and when to use those teachings accordingly to make it beneficial - cause honestly the information you get anywhere is literally at your finger tips in a matter of seconds (the internet). Let me remind you that my personal experiences, continues google/YouTube/books education and years in the industry has given me the opportunity to change a lot of lives for the better and having them to sustain it gives me great pleasure to what I do for a living. 

By defintion, the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way and or the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

Everyone has that person in their life who "always plays the victim." When something goes wrong it's "never their fault" and if you try to challenge them on the issue they get all "high and mighty" on you. They're the type of person who does something wrong then tries to paint you as being the real problem for calling them out. Because their bad deed was just them making things even. These people can be impossible to deal with because they're never wrong. This mentality also stunts their developmental growth, because when you're never wrong, you don't have to change a thing. What if we all learned at a young age that our traumas don't have to define us? That it's possible to have experienced a trauma and for victimhood to not form the core of our identity? That it's even possible to grow from trauma, to become a better person, to use the experiences we've had in our lives toward working to instill hope and possibility to others who were in a similar situation? What if we all learned that it's possible to have healthy pride for an in-group without having out-group hate? By coming to the concrete realization that this form of victim mentality is real, it gives sufferers a greater ability to realize that they are living with an unhealthy personal construct that can be altered. It also gives those of us who have to deal with these people a better way to understand these frustrating people. To reiterate the underlying dynamics of this problem, many people adopt the victim role, unintentionally because they are afraid of their anger, deny its existence in themselves, project it onto other people, and anticipate aggression or harm from them. With this expectation and high sensitivity to anger in others, they may even distort other people's facial expressions, imagining that they have malicious intentions. The anger that they would have experienced in response to frustration or stress is transformed into fear and distrust of others and into feelings of being hurt or wounded.

It's okay to enjoy others success you see on social media but understand that they curating their posts - that's not really their real life. So many people get overly consumed on how people portray their lives in the digital world vs. real world, this can be very dangerous in ones life. To me, top social media platforms are like video games, cool at first and some time but then you could realize that most of your life is consumed by it. Now don't get me wrong, some gamers make it out to be a career and make some good dough but on average, the gamers are just obsessed and or enjoying themselves (maybe a little too much) What happens when a person wants to look a certain way and they scroll through their feed and or following specific people that they gravitate too and begin to imagine how it would be to look like that. Disregarding valid information given to them for there own well being, they merely hold on to the words of that influencer - which they have no background in the health and fitness industry besides looking the part. I mean when someone looks the part and talks the part, it's kinda hard not to believe them unless you know of what they speak of is total bs. Your regular overweight person will not pick up on signs of being lied too because they are desperate to achieve what they want and so it's like taking candy from a baby with such influencers in the market, it's very well a perfect recipe for them to be doing what they do on social media to only treat people as human beings rather then a dollar figure. If someone is guaranteeing you fast and sustainable results in months time - they are bull shitting you ! Weight and fat loss is not a fast process - it's messy, frustrating, stressful, hard work and most of all a long term process. Everyone will have different rates of speed with their results but what matters is your own journey heading towards your goal, because though that person finished the race a lot faster then you - can that person continue to do the same rate for the next goal and the so on. It's quite crazy to think that with the internet available at any given time, people are too lazy to do their own due diligence on who to hire for help and what to believe in about achieving their goal. I mean if you don't have the time to do your homework on the information needed to get help then the least you can do is do your homework on who you choose to hire to change your life for the better. Social media can be either a weapon or a tool and unfortunately in the health and fitness industry it's an influencers dream $$$$$$

If you weigh yourself every morning, you probably notice that the number on the scale can change significantly from one day to the next. Sometimes the reason for the daily weight fluctuation is obvious. Perhaps you indulged in a big meal before bedtime that resulted in weight gain, or you did a very sweaty workout that resulted in weight loss. But there are other reasons that weight fluctuations occur from day to day. If you are trying to lose weight or change your body composition, you might be tempted to believe that the daily weight fluctuation is due to fat loss or fat gain. That is a possibility. But there are many other factors that affect your weight from day to day. up to 5lbs weight shift is typical for most people day-to-day, but that the number on the scale can change by as much as 20 pounds depending on your body size. So why the big swing? And what causes these frustrating weight fluctuations from day to day? These factors contribute to an increase or decrease on the scale. High-salt foods ​can cause water retention. The extra water adds up to pounds on the scale. Some people are very sodium sensitive and may retain more water, while others are less sensitive. sodium can hide in unexpected places. Cold cuts, frozen meals, and savory sauces are often high in sodium. Canned soup is another common culprit. Many varieties of low-calorie soup are very high in sodium. If you love bread, pasta, rice, and other starchy carbs, the weight gain you see on the scale may be related to your carb intake. For every gram of carbohydrate you consume, your body retains about three grams of water in order to store the fuel source. For that reason, if you eat a very high carbohydrate meal, your body weight is likely to increase because of the water weight, not because of increased fat. In addition, many ​refined carbohydrate foods are also high in sodium. You're likely to see some fluctuations on the scale due to bowel movements. Exercise can cause you to sweat and lose water weight. Certain medications may cause you to gain weight. Some increase your appetite, some may cause you to retain water, Most women notice some degree of bloating from fluid retention immediately before and during their menstrual period. Alcohol is a diuretic, so it is possible that you could notice an immediate weight decrease if you end up urinating more than usual while drinking. When should you be concerned about daily weight changes? If the number on the scale continues to increase or stays elevated for more than five to seven days, then it may be an indicator of a medical concern. Or it may show increased body mass. But keep in mind that both muscle and fat increase your mass, so your weight gain may be due to muscle growth.

Each time you eat a meal, your metabolism, or more specifically metabolic rate, increases. That's because all the processes for digestion and absorption require energy and blood flow. Since increasing your metabolic rate means expending energy and generating heat, this phenomenon is called the 'thermic effect of food. More recently this viewpoint, studies suggests a protocol that calls for the individual to fast for an extended period of time (usually 16 – 18 hr) and then eat their remaining calories within a given window that usually follows an exercise. This is commonly known as intermittent fasting and has gained a lot of popularity over the past 10 – 15 years, both from fitness enthusiasts and researchers alike. Within the concept of intermittent fasting there are multiple different fasting protocols, most of which are aimed at reducing bodyweight. One such popular protocol entails complete fasting for 24 hr, followed by feeding the following day—this is termed alternate day fasting (ADF). For the sake of simplicity, this review will regard intermittent fasting as any dietary protocol that encompasses the lower end of meal frequency (i.e., 1 – 2 meals per day) with prolonged periods of fasting in between. While both methods of dieting—intermittent fasting diet protocol—promote weight loss, neither have ever defied the one ultimate successful weight loss program: “calories in – calories out = weight loss (or gain).” In other words, both ways of dieting work because they reduce caloric intake relative to expenditure and thereby induce a caloric deficit. If increased or decreased meal frequency were better for weight loss than the traditional 3 – 4 meals per day, then either of the two diets would have to affect one or both factors of weight loss. To date, there is no evidence to suggest that increasing or decreasing meal frequency, independent of caloric reduction and weight loss, has any effects on energy expended due to structured exercise or non-exercise activity thermogenesis. However, it has been shown that reductions in bodyweight do promote an unconscious reduction in spontaneous activity and therefore a reduction in caloric expenditure. Thus, any diet that reduces bodyweight will likely produce a reduction in energy expended due to structured exercise and non-exercise activity thermogenesis, unless the person consciously compensates by increasing their training volume. Theoretically, if someone increases their meal frequency, it is conceivable that they may increase their non-exercise activity thermogenesis as a factor of preparing more food over the course of the day. Assuming that approximately 50 – 100 kcals are expended due to cooking, this could amount to a couple hundred extra calories burned over the course of 24 hr. However, this is completely speculative and most likely would have negligible effects on the overall caloric deficit from reducing caloric intake and a conscious increase in energy expended due to structured exercise. Thus, the real question regarding meal frequency is, “which diet protocol most fits with each individual's lifestyle and dietary preferences?” Nevertheless, whether an individual eats 1 – 3 times per day with prolonged fasts in between, or six or more meals spaced 2 – 3 hr apart, the effects on metabolism and fat loss will essentially be the same. Some aspects to consider when it comes to meal frequency are increased feelings of hunger with fewer meals during a hypocaloric diet and the possible increased feelings of hunger with a shift in feeding pattern from higher frequency to lower. Nevertheless, at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference and the individual's fitness and performance goals.

Here's the back story - through my teens to late 20's I've always had a time to get over 150lbs and thought to not be able to get to 160 as a muscular aesthetic goal but with time after time research trial and error I ended up achieving that in my early 30's. Fast forward to 3 years ago I've been hovering around 165-168 and now making a goal to hit 180 by my birthday in August. I've been around friends that ranged from 180-220lbs and all teasing aside - about wishing they had my body at my current weight this and that while they sit ideal around their weight and not so muscular (and might I add that I'm a few years older than most of them) On the other spectrum of the conversation, i too was telling them i wish I had their weight so i can be jacked up like them ( so it was funny conversations between the parties that would end up in a bunch of testosterone being thrown around) During my 165lbs days I was mainly focused on size and strength so my workout program was good ol fashion German volume 5x5 for about 6 months and then slowly tapered off it around the 9th month, which shot my weight up to 170lbs. During that time I was just pounding down the food like I haven't eaten for some time but I solely focused on protein intake more than i should have with the carbs and that's when I would sometimes develop gout on my big toe (common issue with too much protein at a time) So I dialed back my nutrition accordingly to maintain my weight and physique, good for a few months but then the pandemic hit - no gym, no social life, declined work ethic and limited resources. Slowly my gains turned upside down and based most of my weight off water due to my nutrition and lack of activity, thought in months of dealing with the pandemic and Ontario lockdown measures, I still was able to get in some workouts during my work schedule. Fast forward to current events, I made a personal goal to face my fear of heights with the idea and notion to go skydiving on my birthday and figured since I'm jumping and small chance of dying that I should pack on a few pounds to ease the blow (funny right!) No seriously, that was my decision to why I'm aiming for 180lbs - no other reason, I mean usually I guess it would be for beach season but by the way the world is shaping into, I don't foresee any beach opportunities this coming season. As of yesterday, I am hovering around 175lbs and got 3 months to hit 5 more pounds. One thing I can tell you that whomever is listening that is looking to pack on some mass is eating more ain't any easier than eating less.

We've all been told when your injured to take time off but you can still continue your program within your capabilities from the injured body part. The right food and supple ocean soles injury recovery. Be advised that this topic is particularly towards acute pain not chronic.

Being reactive, we've all done it. We are guilty of being reactive from time to time, often without even knowing. Instead of shifting the blame elsewhere, you can carry the responsibility. When we are proactive we only concern ourselves with things that are inside our sphere of influence, rather than worrying about the things we can't do anything about. We look towards what we are able to control and change, and this includes the way we react to any given situation. Becoming more proactive is essentially a practice of mindfulness.

WHY do you want to lose weight, gain muscle/size, get stronger or improve overall health. Re-engineer your lifestyle to be able to sustain it towards your goal.

You are not alone in dealing with whatever life is throwing at you, don't be so hard on yourself. It becomes a problem when you've accepted defeat with what's being thrown at you while derailing your progress towards the goal.

We all have a level of competitiveness, but we can either have a positive or negative way to handle it. The typical notion of creating this you vs. you mentality has its merit but ultimately a thin line of competition with someone else - and that's completely okay. Just don't try to convince yourself otherwise that your doing it solely for you

Brief explanation on how to create a routine that works for you in helping to achieve your goal(s).

So I tried to do an intro of myself but through poor timing my kid woke up and made this experience a little difficult (lesson learned to not do a podcast with the kid awake

A pretty nervous introduction