Jay's Advice: Fat Loss and dealing with Stress #1

Hi all, 

First a little disclaimer:
I'll start out by saying, this is not my post. This is Jay's.

I first met Jay when I was playing rugby for my University team about 9 years ago, he was our strength & conditioning coach, and an all around nice guy! We have both since moved on to other things, but have stayed in touch and I still get fitness advice from Jay through Skype from time to time. 

Jay has since moved to Dubai and is on his way to becoming one of the world experts in his field, he has given seminars in Dubai, New York, San Francisco, and Sydney. 

It is truly amazing to have met someone with such ambition.

During our last session on Saturday, we talked about what we have been up to, and I told him about steemit. I'll be honest, Jay didn't believe the potential despite my massive hype, but after a little arm twisting he agreed to let me share his content on steemit, in the form of weekly articles.
These articles are completely unique, by Jay, you won't find them elsewhere, any SMD will go to Jay, and we hope you enjoy.

Fat Loss and Stress

I get questions all the time from friends in the UK, clients in Australia and here in Dubai about exercise regimes, dealing with injuries and problems with weight loss, or sometimes even weight gain! 

I try to reply to all questions within a couple of days, but sometimes I receive messages from people so desperate for help that I feel its my professional duty to reply as soon as possible. Sometimes you see people struggling and facing the same issues as each other.

Last week I received this question, and I think it applies to a lot of us. I hope my answer helps.

Question
My diet is a mess. I'm too busy with work. I have no time to prepare meals. I am binge eating on sugar and bad foods. I go on diets and give up. I sleep about 5 or 6 hours because I'm so stressed and I've lost all of my motivation to work out, I have no time! I sound like a quitter, what can I do to get my motivation back?

Jay's Advice
This sounds like "Adrenal fatigue". Our bodies are designed to cope with a limited amount of Cortisol, the body's stress hormone. 

At the moment your body is in a negative cycle. Your work stress is causing you to feel tired and demotivated. During periods of stress, your levels of cortisol and insulin rise and send signals to the fat cells within your body and tell them to hold on to the fat stores. This causes an increase in blood sugar levels decreasing your body's sensitivity to insulin  and increasing your appetite, increasing cravings, which then leads to an increase of body fat.

On top of all of this, 

• Your history of dieting is causing stress by restriction of food
• Your lack of sleep is producing more stress and more cortisol
• and even EXERCISE, is causing you to stress!!

I advise, and I've seen it work so many times is these simple steps:

1. STOP whatever you are doing right now. Whatever it is, including dieting, exercise and so on.
2. Clear your fridge and fill it with nutritious foods, the more colourful the food, the better. Consume protein at every meal. 
3. Lower your intake of stimulants, coffee and alcohol. Don't cut them out completely as this will leave you with added stress, we want to avoid that!
4. Take these supplements:
   Magnesium (To help sleep, consume before bedtime) vitamin D3, Fish oils, a good-quality multi vitamin. And, Ginseng or St. John's Wort can be taken during moments of high stress
5. You may have a hard time believing me on this given that I made my career in fitness but, QUIT your gym membership! (I can't believe I've used the word quit) At least for a little while. And definitely NO long aerobic sessions like a half marathon as guess what? This will produce even more cortisol! And what does that mean? MORE STRESS
   Instead take up Yoga or something of that nature, even Tai Chi. This will help bring balance (Yin) into your life! Or spend time reading or walking with family in the country. Whatever helps makes you feel calm and with nature will be good for you, remember you need to heal first.
6. When you restart exercising, concentrate on Strength Training as you get back into it.
7. Get to sleep before 11pm
8. Drink: 0.033* (your weight in kilograms) of water to stay hydrated. 
9. YOUR health is more important than anything work related - Never forget that!
   
   Following these steps will work, your stress levels will lower and the weight will start to fall off you as a consequence, you'll be healthier and happier. I hope this helps, Jay.

To Steemit: If you have any questions about fitness, please post below, I am sure Jay would be happy to answer a question for the 2nd article next week!

Thanks
Jay & Stevo