Porn Obsessed

Food Porn duhhh…

The following was written 1 week out from the UKDFBA in 2014…

Sorry if you expected something a little more perverse than this, but I have to confess I am addicted to food porn. Or better I am obsessed with food in general, if you asked me what I was thinking about or doing it would be food, hence this newsletter being on the subject!

So why am I so food focussed right now? Well you might have guessed it, it’s because I am dieting. As you transition to lower and lower calories every item of food you put in your mouth gets a higher value put onto it. Not only do you need to be more concerned about it’s quality, you get concerned about how it tastes, how fulfilling it is, because you know if you make a bad choice you will feel it later. Just have a look at my instagram if you don’t believe me.

Pretty #foodgasmic wouldn’t you say? In a recent paper by Eric Helms, Alan Aragon and Peter Fitschen they look into the psychological impacts of long term dieting, specifically for contest prep. Did you know it’s been found almost half male drug free competitive bodybuilders binge post competition. One third reported anxiety, short tempers or anger when preparing for competition and more than 80% suffered with a preoccupation with food. People who know me might be thinking…that explains a lot..haha well hopefully not. Although I have survived one post competition binge I definitely have a preoccupation with food. The physical effects of semi-starvation is much like the signs and symptoms seen with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. As you can see, my food porn obsession isn’t so out of the ordinary.

This is why I wanted to make this post, because I am aware of the dangers of getting extremely lean. And being aware is part of the solution of straying from the potential consequences. As open and frequent communication about these topics can really help. Further to this, I have a coach, he is amazing and there for me when I am concerned. Personally, I recommend everyone looking to get into contest level shape get a coach, particularly if it is your first contest. This is why I also think it is essential that your coach has competed themselves, because it is impossible to relate if they haven’t. The mental and psychological side to contest prep is what separates it from just fat loss, and trust me when I say it is a major part that can make or break a successful prep.

I am now 1 week out from the UK Drug Free Bodybuilding Association (UKDFBA). So hopefully my obsession will start dying down and I can get back to a having a healthy relationship with food. I certainly intend to enjoy a ‘free meal’ post contest, but I am not going to binge. My fantastic girlfriend has actually booked us in for a meal at Duck and Waffle in London, its got some posh nosh and I intend to enjoy the hell out of it.Thanks to everyone for the continued support throughout my contest prep. It has been an experience I will remember forever and it has made me grow stronger as a person. If anyone is interested in competing and have questions, please contact me as I would be happy to help, and together we can Revive Stronger.

Losing Fat is Hard

Mindset & Fat loss

Fitness professionals like to make out how easy losing fat is, I mean it’s just moving more and eating less right? Well yeah it kinda is just that, producing a calorie deficit by using more energy than you take in. Yet, what isn’t spoken much about it how hard it is to actually achieve this. Here I am going to touch on some of the areas people struggle with and create a bit of a troubleshoot, to hopefully help some of you guys drop fat. I’m not an expert but I’ve been consistently losing weight for the past 7 months, coming from just over 190lbs to now under 170lbs.

So what’s so hard?

Making sure you’re in a calorie deficit.

This is really the start of your fat loss journey, and to be frank it can make or break the entire process. Why? Because most people plunge deep into a diet, they drop calories too fast and add in cardio too quickly. End result is a short term loss in weight, followed by a rebound binge or complete stall. Either way you are not going to be losing fat for long. So you have to find out how to create a deficit, and make it sustainable.

When fat loss stalls, what to do?

Now if you have created a deficit there is going to come a point where you stall out, because our bodies adapt down to burn less energy. This is inevitable and predictable, and will happen. So whatever amount of calories and exercise you previously did now no longer produces a caloric deficit. This can be a real sticking point, especially if you are already doing a lot and not eating a lot. And like I said above, how hard this sticking point is depends on how well you initially set up, but regardless of that each stall gets harder and harder to get over.

When are refeeds/diet breaks appropriate?

Many people will have heard about refeeds, and probably know that they can be a very useful tool in fat loss. However, many have no clue how to go about them successfully. So people decide to wing it, and many use these days as an excuse to have a cheat meal. These can really damage your progress if you are not careful, because typically cheat meals consist of a lot of food, high in fat and therefore high in calories. They are un-calculated and can get right out of control, doing the opposite to what we want them to do.

When social occasions arise, what to do?

This is a biggy, because our social environment really impacts our diet. Say you work in an office and someone brings in treats from their holiday. Or it is someones birthday and you are invited to have some cake. Or god forbid someone invites you out for a drink or meal. These can be approached successfully but are often not, they are often seen as an opporunity to break their diet. People see having a treat as failure, and once you have failed you may as well eat your heart out right. One slice of cake turns into two, plus a cookie and maybe a tub of ice cream later. Just like a cheat meal, this can undo a tonne of hard work.

Keeping motivated for training.

When you are in a deficit you obviously have less energy, as you get leaner this energy deficit gets harder and harder. You go to the gym and cannot hit the weights you used to, progress just doesn’t come. There are no personal records being made, your 1 rep maxes are falling. Not only do you get weaker but just getting through your workouts and recovering takes a lot longer. A session that used to take an hour to complete takes two. This makes training very unappealing.

Find foods that keep you satiated.

The food you once ate becomes less and less filling. You seem to be constantly hungry, even after porridge and egg white omelettes you are searching for food. You hit your macros by midday and try and get through the rest of the day. This might build for days, leading an inevitable diet break, and for some a full on binge, that might last days.

Cravings, making you want to break your diet.

You have a meal plan and want to stick to it, you’re sticking to the 10 foods that burn the fat. Or maybe you just eat clean, and that means nothing processed, you are restricted. There are no no foods, you’re not allowed. And like anything you are told you can’t have you want it more. Your cravings grow and grow, until you snap and what comes next? You guessed it a binge.

Low energy levels.

It’s common sense that when you are trying to burn more than you eat you are going to be low on energy. Especially because so many either drop calories very fast and particularly carbohydrates, our bodies main fuel supply. This makes training hard, let alone life in general. Personally being a full time personal trainer having low energy levels is hard to deal with. Many eventually give in to this, again either binging or dropping their NEAT (non energy activity thermogensis) so low that fat loss stalls.There are many more factors making losing fat hard, but there are so many easy and simple things you can do to make things a hell of a lot easier. As you can see there is a recurring theme here, not setting up the diet right and restriction, causing problems and leading to an inevitable binge and a fat loss journey ruined.

Next week I am going to give you some very simple approaches to help with your fat loss quest.

Calorie Free too good to be true?

Diet sodas, Walden Farms, Splenda

Hey guys, I want to spend some time talking to you about calorie free products. They’re great, adding loads of flavour and sweetness to our diets without the added calories. Research has shown that when kept in moderation our bodies are able to metabolise them without harmful effects and can help us lose weight. So why on earth would I ever bad mouth these products? Well as someone who has been dieting down for over 30 weeks my consumption of them has risen, and with that so has my understanding of potential pit falls.

Calorie free does not mean exactly that, as governing bodies allow companies to use this terminology if they are under a certain number of calories. In reality what does this mean? For example, if we take Walden Farms chocolate sauce (which I love).

Per serving Walden state that the product is calorie free, however there is actually 5 calories per 32g serving. That’s not exactly a lot, but say you were using a variety of these sauces through the day and using generous servings, that could really add up. Plus how many of you chew sugar free gum? I must get through almost a pack everyday now, and each piece actually contains 5 calories as well. Oh and I love Pepsi Max, again this too contains a small number of calories. You see where I am going here, before you know it you have actually consumed a decent number of calories from ‘calorie free’ sources.

As I said my consumption of these has been increasing as my diet has gotten harder. I hadn’t until recently really thought much about the above, thinking that they couldn’t be having any real impact. But, on a bad day I could in reality be getting close to 150 extra calories that I wasn’t accounting for, and imagine I have a bad week, an extra 150kcal every day, that’s over 1000 calories more than I thought. That 1000 calories could be the difference between losing the extra bit of fat I wanted.

So next time you see something ‘calorie free’ bare in mind that it does in fact contain a small number of calories, and these can add up. This is why I love IIFYM or Flexible Dieting, you count everything, there are no ‘free’ foods, because we know anything that contains energy will impact our bodies.

Scale Weight Fluctuations

Day to day changes in weight, what do they mean?

The scale, some days we love it and others we hate it, if it doesn’t go in the right direction it can really screw us up. However, what do these daily fluctuations really mean for our body composition, should we get so emotionally attached to the scale? I am here to tell you why our bodyweight can vary so much day to day, and whether or not it’s important and how to accurately know whether you’re on track.

The biggest culprit for scale fluctuation is water. Everyone holds onto it differently, and it can also be impacted by our stress levels, hormones & foods we have eaten.

Someone who is in a harsh deficit and training intensely will hold onto more water, also if you consume foods high in sodium the water you retain will go up. In addition women have the added difficulty of their menstrual cycle, and even between females this variable can be very different in terms of its impact on water.

Furthermore, foods high in fibre can cause your weight to go up, because you’ll have more waste moving through your colon. If you have a higher carb day your weight will go up, because you will hold onto a lot more water. However, if you perform a glycogen depleting workout your weight will plummet because you will drop a load of stored water.

Finally a note needs to be made regarding body fat levels, because the leaner you are, the less important scale weight changes mean. Why? Because, you have less fat to lose and therefore the scale will not be an important predictor in body composition changes. So the leaner you are the less focus you want to give to the scale.

The Solution

• Keep your diet variables to a minimum– do not have large day to day changes in the amount of fibre or sodium consumed.
• Recognise when your diet variables change– if you have a high carb day, understand the impact on the scale.
• Have a long term view– take weekly or for women monthly averages.
• Use other measurements– remember the scale is only one way of tracking progress, you have the way clothes fit, how you are looking in the mirror and you can even take circumference measurements of your waist and other areas.
• Have a realistic weight loss target and make small adjustments, but account for performance– For the average person a 1% loss of weight per week is a realistic, if it is much above or below this then a 10% increase or reduction in calories is sensible. However, if performance is low then a reduction in calories should not be made.
• Get a good coach- a coach can prevent you being your own worst enemy, they can take an objective view that is unbiased and stop you stressing the small stuff.

Adjusting your diet based on daily changes in scale weight is never a good idea. It will lead to no progression towards your goals because you will adjust calories up and down pointlessly, based on a meaningless change in scale weight.

Please if you think anyone else can benefit from the above share via social media 😀 Thanks. If you want someone else to take the hard work out of assessing your weight and progress then check out my online coaching services, might be just what you need, just click HERE.

Part 3: Gaining Muscle without the Added Fat

Putting it all together

An overview of training & nutrition for lean muscle

Hey guys, so now we have an understanding about the speed at which we can gain lean muscle tissue, we know what we need to do with our training and to implement our nutrition. Things might seem complicated at first, but the simpler you keep things, the easier it will be to track and make progress. So always think ‘KISS’ Keep It Simple Stupid, get in a calorie surplus & train with progression in mind.

So lets re-cap what we looked at:
– The longer you have been training, the harder it is to gain muscle, and therefore the slower you should aim to add weight on the scale.
– Your workout programmes need to cover each rep range, to enable you to achieve every aspect of hypertrophy. The 6 – 10 rep range wants to be prioritised, and rep ranges can be periodised in multiple ways. Be sure to either progress the number of reps, sets or weight being used.
– To add weight you need to eat in a calorie surplus, make getting 1g per lean pound of bodyweight a priority, the amount of carbs and fat consumed is variable.

If you cover the three points above you’ll be doing everything right.

Some hurdles and how to overcome them:

‘However much I eat, I don’t seem to gain weight’ – My first question to this person would be is ‘are you tracking your calorie intake?’, likelihood is they’re not, and are not actually eating as much as they think. Yet, if you are tracking and are finding it hard to eat enough to grow there are some ways round this. Seek calorie dense foods; dried fruit, nuts, fatty meats & full fat dairy, use sauces, spreads & jams, blend your food, make calorie dense smoothies, have a protein shake with your meals, eat highly palatable foods. Essentially, you want to eat things that are easy to digest, nice to eat and calorie dense.

‘I was gaining weight, but now it’s stabilised’ – our metabolisms are not stable, they adapt to what we give them. So if you are now weighing more, you’ll take more calories to run, also our bodies are great at increasing our NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis), making the amount of calories burnt go up. Therefore, when your weight stable for an extended period you can be pretty sure you have hit a new maintenance, and you will have to eat more to gain weight once again.

‘I am not sure whether to continue gaining weight, or go for fat loss’ – This one is completely up to the individual, not comfortable with your current shape? Then do what makes you happy. Not bothered? Then continue as you are. However, I will add that if you are much over 15% body fat, but you want to gain more size still, you may want to introduce a ‘mini cut’. This in short is a fast, month long, fairly intense calorie deficit. Short enough not to impact our metabolisms, but long and harsh enough to drop a decent amount of fat.

So I hope you can now confidently go ahead and gain lean muscle tissue. Go on get jacked & strong in a healthy and sustainable manner! If you want more information or have any questions about what we have covered in this mini series, please feel free to contact me via email.

‘Joghurt’ Easy 2 Ingredient High Protein Dessert

So lately I have been experimenting with my foods, contest prep, it does funny things to you. You try and mix all sorts of things together. Well I love 0% Greek Yoghurt, but it is a bit plain, so I wanted to mix it up, so I came up with Joghurt. Check out how it looks:

When I say this is high volume and perfect for a dieter I am not lying, check out the size of it above, and then look at these Macros:

53g Protein 20.5g Carbs 0g Fat – 293kcal (without fruit)

Woahh pretty good right? And further to that, it tastes damn good too, and has great texture. Check out the video below to see how to make it:

Don’t forget to subscribe :D!!!

Abdullah Alkanan- ‘influenced my lifestyle greatly to the better’

Abdullah reached out to me from Kuwait, having watched me on Youtube. He saw me as genuine and thought my advice followed suit and was in line with how he thought. Looking to move away from HITT and Crossfit all out failure type training to more resistance based work. Based on Abdullah’s pictures and questionnaire results I placed him on a programme to shed fat while retaining if not potentially building some muscle mass, to achieve his goal of a lean and muscular physique.

So far we have seen some great results, with Abdullah improving his form on all the main compound lifts and getting stronger, while losing fat in the process. So far a little over three months in, this is what Abdullah had to say:

‘I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Stephen. I was quite unsure when it came to online personal trainers because I tried it in the past and it wasn’t something I thought I would do again.

However, after much researching and using my common sense, I stumbled upon Stephen’s YouTube page and I was convinced that his way of thinking when it comes to nutrition, diet and exercise is something that appealed to me.

So I went ahead and singed up to start with him, and I can say that the last 3 months have been great. There was a sense of certainty, I know what I am eating and how much to eat and what to train. It has influenced my lifestyle greatly to the better. I do have a very busy work schedule but through the great weekly motivation from Stephen in conjunction with his weekly tweaks to my routine I have been pushing through.

I can email Stephen anytime and he is quick to respond, baring in-mind he has a very busy schedule as well. I think the decision to go ahead and join this service has been one I am delighted I made, and I can’t wait for the future.

I truly recommend Stephen to anyone who wants to make a positive change on how their body looks and feels and ultimately get healthy.’

I am truly honoured to have had such a positive impact on Abdullah, to have positively impacted his lifestyle to such a degree is more than I could have wished for. Here is how he is looking just two months on:

As you can see in just 2 months Abdullah lost a total of 10lbs, which was tremendous. He has gotten rid of any love handles and that in combination with increasing his shoulder and back muscle mass has achieved a much broader look. Great job Abdullah!

To learn more about my coaching services please click HERE!

George Green- ‘I have increased my strength, speed and agility’

I need not say much regarding George’s progress and achievements, his words below cover everything. What I must say is he lives the health and fitness lifestyle just like it should be, loving life and getting great results, it has been and continue to be a pleasure working with George. Without further ado enter George:

‘I purchased a 3 month package from Coach Hall. I have followed Stephen Hall’s progress over youtube for some time, and I was impressed. Stephen’s  knowledge and progress were the reasons I came to him.

I started at 172lbs after a year bulk. I did a few weeks by myself then decided to inquire about Stephen’s coaching packages because he is much more knowledgable than myself. I finished my mini cut at a lean 157 lbs, I have increased my strength, speed and agility. This is important as I am a Tennis scholar.

I was impressed with the presentation of my programme, my nutrition and the response I get from Coach Hall. If i had questions, they would be answered within the day. I had weekly check ups, which made sure I was in check, and I was told about any weekly changes whether it be programming or nutrition. Coach Hall also walks you through the training, so you gain an understanding of how the programme works.

My results speak for themselves, and I was incredibly difficult because of the fact I travel so much, go out a lot, and sometimes send pictures of my food to Coach Hall because my guessing was not as good as his.

I have enjoy Mcdonalds, burger king, doughnuts, pizza, cookies and I did not mess up on my diet. I stayed flexible and I did not suffer from any cravings.

I would suggest Coach Hall to any of my friends. I will also be staying with him for the foreseeable future.’

For further information about my coaching services please click HERE.

Natural Bodybuilding – 13 weeks out update

Hey guys, been a while since I got a video up but here are two from this weekend. I touch on foods I have been eating, current nutritional intake, how my training is going and also my mindset at this point. Plus a posing update.

Enjoy

Ryan Synnott- ‘completely changed my outlook on dieting and nutrition as a whole’

I have been working with Ryan for the past 12 weeks, it’s been a pleasure seeing someone who is incredibly dedicated to my coaching but also balancing it with other commitments.  Ryan is a University student, so obviously there are the occasional nights out, lots of studying accompanied with partying. I’ve been there and it makes being consistent with the gym and nutrition very hard, I used my experiences and my knowledge today to make it as easy as possible for Ryan.

To date he has lost over 20lbs and looks great for it. His strength has also shot up, especially on the lower body lifts, mainly thanks to an increase in frequency, but also due to correct periodisation. Lets have a look at his lifts:

Week 1- Best Lifts at 226lbs : 

• Bench – 120kg x 4
• Squat – 140kg x 7
• Deadlift – 160kg x 5
• Total: 2260kg

Ryan Benching – follow him on IG

Week 12- Best Lifts at 205lbs:

• Bench – 115kg x 6
• Squat – 140kg x 7
• Deadlift – 185kg x 5
• Total: 2595kg

Ryan saw more than a 10% increase in strength, at more than 10% lower bodyweight!

So lets have a look at what he is looking like:

I am extremely proud of Ryan, he has been the perfect client, asking a lot of questions, getting whats needed done and not stressing over the small stuff. What makes me incredibly happy is his own thoughts on my coaching:

‘Steve would take you past all plateaus, make you understand nutrition, exercise form and things you hadn’t even thought about in the past. Steve has completely changed my outlook on dieting and nutrition as a whole. I’m the strongest I have ever been pound for pound, and that’s thanks to the routines I have followed, with the weekly adjustments and monitoring provided by Steve. Steve is the best supplement I have ever used!’

All that’s left for Ryan is to get him even more ripped for his holiday!

Client Update:

4 Months, over 2 stone lost, Ryan is looking better than ever!