The No Carb Diet, STONEiMAGE's verdict

Over the last 2weeks I decided to investigate the no carb diet phenomenon. To say the diet has created a lot of controversy would be an understatement but I thought, hey what the hell, if I'm going to form an opinion on the subject then I should understand it more. So here I am once again experimenting with my body (we all remember what I put it through last yr).

The benefits of eating a non-carb diet are dramatic weight loss and bodyfat reduction in a short period of time. This is because the body turns to fat as its primary energy source in the absence of carbs. Now the opposing controversial effects of a non-carb diet are tiredness & lack of concentration which is because carbs provide the energy to the brain once broken down.

So the last 2weeks have been enlightening for me as I have carbs with every meal normally. Oats, Pasta, Rice, Potato, Bread & Fruit were all off limits. I pretty much went to the extreme of having chicken morning, noon & night literally with babybel's cheese being the snack of choice. The 1st 5days were the toughest with headaches, tiredness & dehydration being the main effects. Up to lunchtime would be fine but by the early evening I found myself feeling really tired & with the headaches I found myself becoming a bit ratty (luckily my clients didn't realise as I concealed the feeling, the fact they see that as my normal behaviour is a bit alarming. Maybe I am an evil sadist). Anyway back were the days of afternoon naps like a baby very similar to what was needed in my last experiment, 1hr would normally do the trick. On another note, no amount of water that I drank would seem to quench my thirst always feeling dehydrated (some days drinking over 3ltrs) & with a horrible dry taste in my mouth, mouthwash was never far away to freshen up. As I began to get annoyed with the constant tiredness & headaches there it was, the silver lining. I had Just finished a light workout (I didn't have the energy to muster anything else) and I was about to go in the shower when I glimpsed my reflection (vein much?!) my abs were showing quite a bit more than before & with just 5days gone even if for a short moment all the negative feelings towards the 'no carb diet' disappeared. Now I know to start with my stomach is fairly toned but the more you get into training the more you look to improve & fine tune the minute of details, so to see this little improvement was something of an achievement. "This no carb malarkey isn't half bad", I allowed myself to think but that all came crashing down at my track sessions on Sundays at Ladywell Arena, Catford, 11am, all are welcome (had to plug it a little). Luckily for me the weather or for whatever reason had resulted in no one turning up. I was there on me tod and quite relieved as even though it was morning I had already felt tired, so I planned a light sprint session. Rocking up about 15-20mins late came my cousin to join in the fun, there & then I knew I would have to work harder than planned. So the structure of our sprint sessions goes 3x150m, 3x100m & 3x50m all ran flat out at maximum effort. The 1st 2 150's I got through with relative ease and I guess the ego got the best of me as we started to stagger the starts and as they usually do, for the better I must add it got a bit competitive. I now decided that I would have to run down my cousin who had a head-start and therefore run 2 or 3 times harder. After the last 150 and 2nd 100m sprint I began to feel so light headed and nauseous that I thought I would faint (don't worry I'm not expecting any sympathy). With my blood sugar already low from the dieting I was doing myself no favours working at 90-100% capacity. When working at such a high intensity your sugar stores are usually burned up so quickly and the fat reserves are called in to use as a secondary energy source, that's why intensity training is the latest thing to be encouraged, short & high energy. So with no carbs in my system and presumably my fat stores running out I was running on empty like a Ferrari without fuel and we all know what will happen if you drive without fuel, eventually the car will breakdown. Luckily my cousin didn't push through with a request for 3x50m at the end which is surprising as when the roles are reversed I am not so forgiving which I'm sure a lot of you can vouch for. After session I was literally craving for sugar like a crack fiend and broke my diet to have a banana, believe me it was really needed. Home, eat & sleep was the order of the day after that. I've only ever felt that bad once and that was again at track but in searing heat.

Week2 it seemed that my body had become accustomed to the lack of carbs and without any high intense training I was getting through the days without needing sleep. I even went for a 10km run on Tuesday even though I ran at a slower than usual pace & it was only then the light headed feeling and rattiness reappeared. Physically I was looking even more toned & in just 10days I had lost 2kg and 2.5% of bodyfat.

Pre no carb diet 9.5% bodyfat

Post no carb diet 7% bodyfat

So now today, the end of the experiment & I cant wait to introduce carbs back in to my life after the exile. Conscious that craving the carbs my body will become like a sponge, absorbing and storing the carbs as fat I will re-introduce gradually. This is the mistake many make and end up putting the weight plus some, all back on hence the term yo-yo dieting.

The verdict.........

My thoughts are while I may in my opinion look better, I don't feel as good as I look and it leaves me to pose the question, "No carb diet, vanity over health, is it really worth it???" I'd have to say no, I love my crazy high intensity workouts and I can not operate normally training my clients to the best of my ability during a no carb diet when I feel lethargic. What I will change in my eating is the amount of carbs I have no longer eating carbs in the evening when the sugar isn't needed as I'm not as active (carbs not used up turns to fat). For a short period of 10days before a holiday, wedding, etc I can see the appeal as the results are amazing and very instant. All I would advise is its a false look as you cannot maintain eating that way for a long time and will resort back to size or gain more once you re-introduce carbs. So if you must, do it for only a short period, this is not a healthy long term solution. Its simple exercise, work hard & eat a healthy balanced diet.


Written by

Erron Dussard
STONEiMAGE Management Ltd
www.stone-img.com

For Goodness-Shakes

What are supplements? Should I be taking supplements? What are the benefits?

As fitness enthusiasts novices or experienced we have all found ourselves asking 1 of or all of the above questions at some point in time.

1st off supplements provide vital nutrients in a simple tablet or drink format that are naturally provided by whole foods. "If the nutrients are already found in our food then why do we need supplements?" I hear you all asking. The beauty of supplements is the convenience factor, within 30secs - 1min you could have your protein shake ready or take your tablets. This simple and quick method will provide the vital nutrients that the body needs without requiring the preparation & cooking time needed for a proper whole meal. In the current days when time is vital and we are always on the go, a supplement is perfect to have at the office desk.

If you have a fitness goal that requires you to follow an intense training regime supplements would be of interest to you as some specific supplements provide the necessary nutrients to aid fast recovery & alleviate the soreness to have you ready for your next workout. For the keep fitters who wish to lose weight supplements can provide the nutrients you get from food at a much lower calorie count which is a huge benefit, to lose a lbs of fat per week there needs to be a 2500calorie deficit per week of calorie intake against calorie burned. A lot of those who you would put in the fitness fanatic category who train 5-7 times a week would often be seen with a shake nearby and most of the time its for quick muscle recovery. Its easy for the body to break down being a liquid format and quickly distributed to the muscles.

There are loads of benefits from taking supplements, convenience, quality nutrients, easily broken down, making up dietary deficits etc but and I repeat BUT!!! supplements is just that, a supplementation to food to assist your diet not a complete replacement of whole food. The benefits of whole food can not be replaced and I would always encourage a client to eat whole natural foods. I understand that preparing 6 small meals per day is not feasible, so with limited time and high physical demands from training supplements is a good idea.

Supplements is a billion dollar business and there are endless companies claiming to provide your body with what no other can. Best to do your research before selecting the best supplement to go with.


Written by


Erron Dussard

Strong is the new skinny

Strong is the new skinny.........

This blog was inspired by a 5min debate mid session with one of my female clients. I won't name her but she knows who she is. 1st of all this particular client is extremely fit with a athletically toned physique but slightly rilled me with a request to train towards being skinny. Normally I train clients to their specific targets and tailor their programme in order to achieve their request but this was one goal that I was prepared to go against and debate. First off skinny is not necessarily healthy and secondly skinny does not look good. Lets not confuse skinny with lean, slim or toned, they're completely different looks. 1 still has curves and a defined physique while the other can be likened to a clothes hanger. Women were designed reproductively to have curves so I really don't see the appeal to reduce yourself to skin and bone.

Strong is the new skinny........

Thankfully in more recent times there seems to be a change in tide with more and more women introducing weight training to their workout regime. Even though on the front of female magazines are still digitally touched up models creating an unrealistic image of what a woman should look like there has been more and more media exposure towards women doing weight training. I think this is down to more health & fitness knowledge becoming readily available via the internet, more fitness magazines & personal trainers like myself freely giving tips via Twitter (@Stoneimage), Facebook (Stone Image), Blogs (iMAGEchat), Youtube (STONEiMAGE TV) etc. women are becoming more aware of the benefits weight training brings to fat loss. Notice I used the term fat loss as apposed to weight loss, what weight training does is increase muscle, reduce bodyfat while increasing your metabolism too, so your body burns more calories at rest. You can have an amazing reduction in bodyfat, look a lot leaner and drop dress sizes without dropping too much weight. The fact is muscle is much more dense than fat so 2 women both weighing 60kg can look completely different if one has a much lower bodyfat and higher muscle percentage than the other. The one with the lower bodyfat and higher muscle percentage will look a lot smaller to her more flabby counterpart. Another reason for the tidal change is the increased knowledge that doing weight training will not automatically result in a woman resembling the hulk which even though the myth still exists it is slowly being eradicated. Weight training will give you the physique and muscle tone that cardio alone can't.

Strong is the new skinny......

Most of the celebrity women a lot of you look to when thinking of your future physique are working with personal trainers and doing weight bearing training. It was recently publicised that once stick thin Paris Hilton had now found a love for the odd deadlift or 2. Mel B, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry (the list goes on) all work with trainers and do weight training. Now there are some extremes like Madonna, Jodie Marsh or any other bodybuilder you can think of but these are results achieved on purpose, not just a natural result of weight training so ladies there is nothing to fear.

Mel B arrives at the gym

Jennifer Aniston in T-bar pose

Jessica Alba shows off her toned physique

Halle Berry is regularly at the gym

Jessica Biel is a self proclaimed gym freak

Strong is the new skinny........

I trained a young lady for the 1st time this week and brought her into the free weights area. Straight away she said she wouldn't go there without me as with all the men in the area she finds it intimidating. I can understand that its an area that the men gravitate to but its not the mens area and theres lots a woman could do in that area to also reap the rewards of muscle tone. I love nothing more than seeing a woman walk into the free weights area and get on with her workout confidently. A lot of the men are impressed to see a woman there rather than making it an intimidating environment. I have a client who is tiny in stature weighing around 53kg but she set a new Deadlift PB of 75kg and Squat PB of 80kg which is more than some of my guys, she grunts and gets the job done with the best of them. Looking at her you wouldn't assume that over 18months I've had her doing all sorts of different weight training and still her muscles are yet to rip through her clothes like some of you would believe to be the result of weights.

Strong is the new skinny.....

Ladies order your STRONGisthenewskinny tshirts for just £20 email info@stone-img.com

Go on give it a go, what have you got to lose apart from the Bingo wings, muffin tops, thunder thighs etc


Written by

Erron Dussard