Does Lack Of Sleep Cause Weight Gain?

When our clients hone in on their sleep habits, it is always a game changer. I've seen it over and over: someone can be doing everything "right" with their workouts and nutrition, but if they're running on five or six hours of sleep, progress crawls.

So does lack of sleep actually cause weight gain? Not directly — a bad night's sleep doesn't magically add fat to your body. But sleep deprivation stacks the deck against you in ways that make fat loss much, much harder. Let me walk you through what's really going on. ‍

What Sleep Deprivation Does to Your Appetite‍ ‍

Here are the basics of what happens when you're short on sleep:

When you are sleep deprived, you are awake more hours. More waking hours means more opportunities to eat, and that alone can quietly add meals and calories to your day.‍ ‍

When you are sleep deprived, ghrelin — the hormone that makes you feel hungry — goes up. At the same time, leptin — the hormone that tells your brain you're full — goes down. So you feel hungrier and less satisfied by the food you do eat. That's a rough combination when you're trying to stay in a calorie deficit.

And when you are sleep deprived, your brain actively craves sugary, fatty, high-calorie foods. This isn't a willpower problem — research has shown that short sleep changes how the reward centres of your brain respond to food. In studies where people were restricted to just a few hours of sleep, they ate several hundred extra calories per day, mostly from snacks, without even trying to.

Put all of that together and you can see why "I'll just push through on less sleep" tends to backfire.

Sleep and Your Workouts ‍

The appetite side is only half the story. When you are sleep deprived, you won't recover as well from your workouts. You'll notice more soreness, less energy in your sessions, and slower strength gains. ‍

There's an even bigger reason to care if fat loss is your goal. In a well-known University of Chicago study, dieters who slept 8.5 hours a night lost mostly fat. When the same people dieted on 5.5 hours of sleep, they lost the same amount of weight — but far more of it came from muscle instead of fat. Same diet, same scale result, very different body composition.

And keeping your muscle is exactly what we're after. Muscle is what keeps your metabolism humming, protects your joints, and keeps you strong for everything life throws at you.

The 3 Habits That Fixed My Sleep

Now, you are not me and you must find what works for you. But here are the three things that genuinely fixed my sleep, in order of impact:

1. No screens 30+ minutes before bed. A run-off of this one: no news and no social media before bed either, which is just as important. Winding your brain down matters as much as dimming the light.

2. No phone in the bedroom. This one is twofold. I can't look at my phone in the middle of the night, and I have to physically get up to turn off my alarm in the morning — so no snooze button, no drifting back to sleep.

3. Just go to bed on time. For me, this meant giving up watching late-night sports (unless it's the playoffs). For many of you it might be Netflix or "one more episode." Whatever your version is, it's probably the thing standing between you and an extra hour of sleep.

I'll be honest — there's more I could be doing. I don't have blackout curtains, and I can't seem to get on board with a cool bedroom. You don't need to be perfect. Pick the one or two changes that would move the needle most for you and start there.

Control What You Can

I know many of you have things outside your control when it comes to sleep — young kids, shift work, a snoring partner, stress. If that's you, please don't read this as one more thing to feel guilty about.

But most of us also have things within our control that we just aren't doing. And if we did them, we'd feel a noticeable shift within a couple of weeks — in energy, in cravings, in how our workouts feel.

Sleep is one of the "big rocks" of health, right alongside exercise and nutrition. That's why our coaches across all our Nova Scotia locations — Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth, and Truro — talk about sleep with clients just as much as we talk about squats, whether you're in boot camp, our 30-minute cardio classes, or our Fitness Forever program for the 50+ crowd.

Ready to Feel Better?

If you want help putting the whole picture together — training, nutrition, sleep, and everything in between — come try us out. You can get started with our 6-week trial for just $1 at any of our five locations. Grab your spot here.

Have a great day

Matt

Is 1200 Calories a Day Enough to Lose Weight?

Can I scare you into eating more calories today?

I know how hard it is to figure this stuff out. Between Google and social media alone, you're going to find conflicting views on pretty much every nutrition topic there is. But for some reason, one idea refuses to die: that 1200 calories a day is the number for fat loss.

For most people, it's not just wrong — it can be dangerous. Let me explain.

Where Did the 1200-Calorie Number Come From?

The 1200-calorie figure has been floating around diet culture for decades — it shows up in old magazine meal plans, generic diet programs, and even some calorie-tracking apps that default to it. It stuck because it's a nice round number that produces fast results on the scale.

But here's the problem: it was never based on your body. It's a one-size-fits-all number in a world where nobody is one size.

Your Calorie Needs Are Personal

‍Every single person reading this has different requirements to make progress, and lots of factors affect those requirements. One of the biggest — and the simplest to explain — is your current bodyweight.

The more you weigh, the more calories your body needs just to run your day-to-day life. Someone who weighs 120 pounds needs far fewer calories than someone who weighs 250 pounds. The 250-pound person may need double.

You'd have to live in a lab to know your exact numbers, but here are the general rules of thumb I use with clients:

• 10–12x your current bodyweight in calories per day for fat loss

• 12–14x your bodyweight for maintenance

• 14x and up for weight gain

‍ This is a starting point. From there you adjust based on your activity level and your actual progress.

‍ So if you weigh 120 pounds, 1200 calories might genuinely be in your range — and yes, it's hard being a naturally smaller person, because your requirements are just lower. But if you weigh 250 pounds, you're likely looking at 2500+ calories per day for fat loss. Eating 1200 would mean cutting your intake roughly in half of what your body needs — and your body will fight back. ‍

What Happens When You Eat Too Few Calories

If you ate 500 calories today, nothing terrible would happen other than feeling hungry. The real damage comes from eating too little for an extended period of time. Here's what starts to happen:

1. Nutrient shortfalls. It becomes nearly impossible to get adequate vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients (protein, fats, carbs) on very low calories. Over time that can lead to a whole host of health problems.

2. Muscle loss. Without enough energy coming in, your body turns to your muscle for fuel and breaks it down. Since muscle is exactly what keeps you strong, mobile, and burning calories, this is the opposite of what you want.

3. Fatigue and weakness. You'll feel tired and drained — not just in your workouts, but in your whole life and your ability to get through daily tasks.

4. A weaker immune system. Chronic under-eating makes you more prone to getting sick.

5. A slower metabolism. Your body is incredibly good at adapting to its environment. If you chronically eat very low calories, it adjusts to run on less fuel — which is why the scale often stalls even though you're eating almost nothing.

6. Weaker bones. Long-term under-eating negatively impacts bone health, raising your risk of fractures and osteoporosis down the road.

The full list is longer, but that's as far as I feel qualified to go. If you recognize any of these in yourself, please chat with a professional — a dietitian or your doctor. If you need a referral, reply anytime and I'll point you to great people.

What To Do Instead

Forget the magic number. Aim for a moderate deficit based on your bodyweight, keep your protein up, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, and strength train so the weight you lose is fat — not muscle.

That last part matters more than most people realize. It's a big reason our boot camps and women's-only strength classes across Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth, and Truro are built around progressive strength training — because losing fat while keeping (or building) muscle is what actually changes how you look, feel, and move. ‍

Sustainable beats fast. Every single time.

Ready to Do It the Right Way?

If you want a plan that fuels your body properly and gets you strong instead of just smaller, come try us out. You can get 6 weeks at Evolve Fitness for just $1 — coaching, classes, and a community that has your back.

Start your 6-week $1 trial here.

Have a great day. ‍

Matt

Why You Can’t Trust The Scale Week To Week

If you've ever stepped on the scale after a solid week of eating well and exercising, seen the number go UP, and wanted to throw the whole thing out the window — this post is for you.

I want to share a real story from one of our fat loss coaching clients, because it shows exactly why judging your progress by weekly weigh-ins is one of the biggest mistakes I see.

A True Story: She Ate More and Lost More

‍ One week, this client averaged 1,784 calories per day. She did her weigh-in and had gained 1.4 pounds.

The very next week, her average was 1,925 calories per day — over 140 calories MORE per day. She lost 1.8 pounds.

Read that again. She ate more and lost more.

If she had judged herself week to week, one of two things probably would have happened. She might have quit the program entirely, because "I gained weight eating 1,784 calories, so what's the point?" Or she might have slashed her calories even further trying to force the scale down — and then missed out on the weight loss that came the following week while eating MORE food.

Instead, she trusted the process. Her 4-week average came in at 1,781 calories per day, the weight is coming off, and it feels sustainable. On our coaching call she told me she's doing awesome — and she is.

That's winning.

Why the Scale Bounces Around So Much

Here's the thing: your body has no idea what week it is. Day to day, your weight can swing by 2 to 5 pounds (this same client sees up to 5 pounds of fluctuation), and almost none of that is body fat. Here's what's actually moving the number:

Water retention. This is the big one. Extra sodium, a hard workout (your muscles hold water while they repair), stress, and poor sleep can all cause your body to hang on to water for days at a time. ‍

Carbohydrate storage. Your body stores carbs in your muscles as glycogen, and every gram of glycogen is stored with roughly 3 grams of water. Eat a higher-carb day and the scale jumps — but it's fuel and water, not fat.

Hormones. For women especially, weight can climb several pounds at certain points in the monthly cycle, then drop right back off.

What's simply in your system. A bigger meal, a saltier restaurant dinner, or being a little backed up can all show on the scale the next morning.

Notice that none of these things are body fat. Gaining a pound of actual fat requires roughly 3,500 extra calories above what you burn. If the scale is up 3 pounds overnight, you did not eat 10,500 surplus calories yesterday. It's water and food weight, and it will sort itself out.

The Fix: Look at the Long-Term Trend ‍

To lose fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit — but that deficit is averaged over time, not judged day to day. ‍

So here's what I coach instead:

Weigh in consistently, but judge in 4-week blocks. One weigh-in is a data point, not a verdict. Four weeks of data tells you the truth. If the trend is going down and you feel good, keep doing exactly what you're doing.

Expect up weeks. They're coming — after weekends, after vacations, after hard training weeks. An up week inside a downward trend is completely normal. ‍

Track some non-scale measures too. How your clothes fit, your energy, your strength in the gym, photos. These often show progress when the scale is being stubborn.

Don't panic-cut your calories. Reacting to one bad weigh-in by slashing food is how people end up under-eating, feeling terrible, and quitting. Trust your averages.

This is exactly how we coach members through our free fat loss coaching, and it's the same mindset we build in classes like boot camp, women's-only strength, and Fitness Forever (50+) at our Evolve Fitness locations across Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth, and Truro. The people who win are never the ones with perfect weeks — they're the ones who stick around long enough for the trend to do its thing.

The Bottom Line

‍The scale isn't lying to you on purpose — it's just measuring everything: water, food, glycogen, hormones, AND fat. Week to week, the noise drowns out the signal. Over months, the signal wins.

So stick with the plan. Zoom out. Judge yourself on the trend, not the Tuesday.

Ready to Stop Guessing?

If you want coaching, structure, and a community that keeps you consistent long enough to actually see results, come try us out. You can get 6 weeks at Evolve Fitness for just $1 — every class, every location, real coaching included.

Start your 6-week $1 trial here

Have a great day.

Matt

Are Cheat Days Good for Weight Loss?

‍I got a great question from a client recently: "How do I know when to have a cheat day, and how do I recover from it?"

Here's the good news. The whole idea of cheat days — and feeling like you need to "cheat" on your diet at all — has largely gone out the window. Ten-plus years ago it was all the rage, and like every fad, it came and went.

I used to do cheat days myself, until I learned how badly they were sabotaging my goals. These days, I enjoy my favourite higher-calorie foods in moderation, no matter what day of the week it is. Let me explain why that shift changed everything. ‍

Where the Cheat Day Idea Came From

The old mindset went like this: deprive yourself of "treats" all week, then once a week (or two), eat all of your favourite foods in a single glorious day. That was your cheat day. Some people even promoted it as good for your metabolism — without any real evidence behind the claim.

‍The number one thing to remember is this: to reach your fat loss goals, you need to be in a calorie deficit. But that deficit is not a day-to-day thing. It's an average over time. Your body doesn't reset at midnight. It responds to what you do across weeks and months.

And that's exactly where cheat days fall apart.

What Cheat Days Were Actually Doing to Me

Two things kept happening when I did cheat days, and I see the same pattern in clients all the time.

‍First, my cheat days were really bad. If I'd bumped into a client at the grocery store on a Saturday morning, I would have been embarrassed by my cart. And the day was so high-calorie that it wiped out my entire week's deficit. One day of "cheating" undid six days of effort — my weekly average put me right back at maintenance, or worse.

Second, I felt like trash. My cheat day was always Saturday, so Saturday night, all of Sunday, and sometimes even Monday, I was zapped of energy and motivation. I was starting every week from behind.

Between the math and the misery, I was never really getting ahead. Sound familiar?

The Other Problems Nobody Talks About

Beyond my own experience, the cheat day mindset can bring some baggage that works against you long term:

An unhealthy relationship with food, where foods get labelled "good" and "bad." An emotional dependence on that one day of the week. A real risk of overeating that slides toward binge-style eating. And a plan that simply isn't sustainable — because white-knuckling deprivation for six days so you can "earn" the seventh is exhausting.

All food is energy, and you need energy to live. Some foods just carry more calories and fewer nutrients than others. That's it. There's no cheating involved in being a human who likes dessert.

What I Do Instead

When I finally understood that fat loss comes down to my average calories over time, everything changed for the better.

Now, if I want dessert, I have dessert. If I want a meal that's cheese whiz sandwiches (no judgment, please), I do that. No guilt, no "starting over Monday."

If I know a high-calorie stretch is coming — say, Thanksgiving weekend — I'll spend a few days beforehand eating a little lighter, with extra protein, fruits, and veggies. If it's an oopsie instead of a plan, I just do the same thing afterward. Either way, my average over time keeps me in a deficit, and I never feel deprived enough to "need" a blowout day.

That's the whole system. Enjoy the foods you love in moderation, keep the big picture in a deficit, and stay consistent — because consistency you can live with will always beat intensity you can't.

Building a Plan That Actually Fits Your Life

The goal is a nutrition plan that gets you the results you want and keeps you happy. That takes some time and some trial and error, and it works a whole lot better alongside regular training. That's exactly what we help people build every day at our Evolve Fitness locations across Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth, and Truro — whether that's boot camp, spin, women's-only strength, or our Fitness Forever classes for the 50+ crowd. We also offer free fat loss coaching, so you never have to figure out the nutrition side alone.

I hope this helps reframe cheat days for you — and I hope we can retire the phrase "cheating on your diet" for good.

Ready to Ditch the All-or-Nothing Cycle?

If you want a plan (and a community) that makes consistency the easy part, come try us out. You can get 6 weeks at Evolve Fitness for just $1 — every class, every location, all levels welcome.

Get on the waiting list for our next 6 week trial here

Have a great day.

Matt

Fat Loss Non Scale Wins

Our next Fat Loss Academy challenge is coming up soon (details here​) which means our latest challenge is finishing up.

We've had some incredible scale wins, but I asked the group to share success that had nothing to do with the scale.  I am going to copy some of the responses below.

I love helping people lose weight because I know it is a challenge that is very hard to overcome.

But in reality, I am after everything else that you see below.  I just know that when we start taking a look at our nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress for fat loss then all of the other magic happens.

One key takeaway I often see is feeling in control and having freedom around nutrition. 

Let me know what your takeaways are I hope this gives you a little bit of inspiration to keep pushing with your health journey.

​-------------------------​

Honestly my mind shift is my biggest victory. I have been starting and quitting weight loss schemes most of my life.

For whatever reason this time is different. I got injured early on and am still trying to heal so my activity is limited but I haven’t used food as a crutch.

I’m enjoying feeling in control of the food and not feeling like the food is in control of me.

I have more energy, I’m sleeping better, my overall mindset is more positive. My clothes are feeling better and I feel like I’m doing something I can do forever.

​-------------------------

SO many that are not related to weight loss. Mindset has shifted so much more than I thought, and not allowing road blocks such as a foot fracture, holidays and birthdays be the reason to say the heck with it (which was my normal pattern). Something has shifted and not sure why this time feels so much different than before. I don't feel deprived, good habits have formed and am so happy with all of the things that are happening. Energy is better, skin is better, mood is WAY better. My life has changed in that I am an active participant in my wellness and this journey is just starting :) SO very grateful for this community, not just for support but for accountability as well.

​-------------------------​​

Inches lost, fitting into old clothes, fitting into jewelry, feeling better able to manage/incorporate special occasion foods/meals into my diet without sabotaging my progress, and less cravings. Much less emotional eating- and quick recognition of it when the desire strikes. My body feels fitter and stronger.

I don’t know when it happened, but my arms are starting to look better too! On Easter Sunday I went out in public in a sleeveless top for the first time in a very long time. This was a big deal for me

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Oh there are too many to mention! The ones that are top of mind for me are:
1) climbing stairs with ease
2) lifting more weight
3) fitting into clothes that haven’t fit in a couple of years
4) a new social group
5) enjoying eating well again and being in control of my food
Like I said too many to mention… I am loving the classes and the Fat Loss Academy!!

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At least half of the things listed above if not more. But above all, I feel in control of my wellness and my lifestyle choices and better at planning for myself and my kids not just in nutrition but all aspects. And my summer shorts fit! Wooo!​​

​Chat soon!

Matt

Fitness Lies Online

Hey Ya’ll

I got triggered recently with some ads I saw on facebook about fitness and fat loss goals programs.

There are obviously many lies on the internet and the fitness lies are just as prevalent and just as dangerous.

Please be a good consumer and please be curious and ask questions when you see things that make you wonder.

Frustrating example.

All over the internet you see incredibly jacked and lean men and women doing some workouts. Cool.

Sometimes you will see them showing off their bodyweight workouts or their workouts where they are using light weights and doing burpees/jumping jacks/squat jumps and other cardio-ish full body moves.

Here's what they want you to think.

That these workouts are what made them look like that. Buy these workouts from them or these supplements.

Unfortunately this is a bullshit lie.

Marketing 101. Make it seem like it's easy and make it seem like it will happen quickly. IE. workout only 2-3x a week for 30 minutes just bodyweight, 21 day fix etc etc.

If you don't want more clients tell the truth. That it takes many years of dedication, effort and sacrifice to achieve transformational results.

Exactly 0 of the people doing those workouts got to where they are doing those workout. ZERO.

Here's what they have in common
-they might be blessed genetically
-they might be a former high level athlete who trained many hours a day for many years
-they definitely lifted heavy weights 3-4x a week for many years
-they definitely have been on very restrictive diets to get as lean as they are
-they may be on, or have been on, performance enhancing drugs
-it might be their job to look like that meaning they don't have any other commitments other than dedication to the lifestyle factors needed to look like that (ie. a job, kids, life etc)

So why are these people such scum?

Because they make you think that you can look like them by doing these garbage workouts.

And then they take your hard earned money when all you really want is to make progress to your goals.

This is all over the internet and there is nothing I can do about it other than to warn you. It's up to you to be skeptical and to ask an expert for advice.

And there is no getting around it. It takes time and consistency and no two fitness and health journeys are the same.

That's great, we are all unique and special. But that also means that we truly cannot compare ourselves to anyone else.

Do you really think a woman with 3 kids in menopause and a college athlete are going to be able to do the same thing and get the same results? Of course not.

But it is possible for everyone. It just takes way longer than we want, it's way harder and there are more barriers in 2025 than ever before.

This is not all bad news!

You can drastically improve your health with some "big rocks" like:
-2-4x a week strength training (even 20 minutes work)
-getting in as much movement outside of your workouts as you can fit in like walking, parking further away, direct cardio, playing with kids etc etc
-working on your sleep hygiene and getting more sleep (if you can, I know lots of you have things out of your control)
-eating more nutrient dense whole foods
-getting away from screens/the news and spending more time doing things you love. Getting outside more helps too

Yes, they are many more things.

And these things might not get you on the facebook ads, but they will help you live healthier longer and give you all the strength and energy you need to live life to the fullest.

And as always, if you have questions just ask!

Matt

PS. If you want to learn more about Evolve Fitness in person you can see us at www.evolvefitnessltd.com

And if want to join our free virtual program you can do that here. Inside this program you’ll find our menopause course, fat loss course and healthspan course.

Fitness Influencer Truths

Okay, let's talk about fitness influencers for a second and a couple of key takeaways that are important when you are seeing things online.

I saw a great post from a self proclaimed "former influencer" about the things she regretted from her days of posting about fitness online.

Her top two things were:
1. Posting ab workouts
2. Posting what she ate in a day

Here's why she regretted them.

She said she would post ab workouts because they would get by far the most views.  And more views=more influence=more money.

She would show up at 4am to the gym so it was empty to film these.

She now feels bad because what she didn't disclose in her videos is that ab workouts won't give you visible abs.

Having a very low body fat percentage is what will give you visible abs and she had a very low body fat percentage.

Some of your best exercise for core strength and being able to see your abs once your body fat is low enough are actually exercises like squats, deadlifts, farmers carry, one arm rows and other single arm or single leg exercises. It takes a lot of core strength to be able to stabilize yourself during loaded exercises.

Takeaway.

Please don't do crunches thinking this is going to get you to see your abs. Abs are about fat loss and fat loss is going to happen through nutrition first along with exercise and other healthy habits.

Now, why is it bad that she posted what she ate in a day?

Well, she also wasn't disclosing something here too. While she posted a great day of eating, she did not post that she was doing several hours of cardio per day to maintain her low body fat percentage.

So she was burning a shit load of calories that would be far more than us average people would have time for or should even think about doing.
So while it was a good nutrition plan, if I ate the same things I wouldn't be as lean because I wouldn't be burning as many calories.

There is a lot more to influencers and how unethical their practices can be but I will leave it here because I think these two things are really important for you to understand when you see things online and aspire to look like someone else.

You are never seeing the full picture or the truth.

And you are pretty awesome just the way you are. You probably have some amazing fitness goals that you are working on.

Comparison is normal, but it's important to remember that there is only one you and there only ever will be. So you've got to just focus on your own journey that is making you feel awesome.

And most people need a lot of support in their journey. You don't have to do it alone. Ask for help from others when you need it. That's a good thing :)

Accountability Is Key

A friend emailed me 3 months ago and told me she was in a rut and going downhill quickly.

She was lacking motivation and needed some accountability​.

So I did what any coach and friend would do and we got together for a quick chat and inbody assessment.

Honestly, there wasn't much to it. No special instructions, no tough Matt and no nutrition tips.

Just a check in every month to make sure things were good.

3 months later and she did another inbody.

Down 30 pounds and 9.7% body fat.

I have to admit I was a little shocked.

"Is that all it took" I asked?

"Yes", she replied. "I just needed to know you were watching".

This may seem simple, but it's a huge key to success.

Us humans are pretty good at dealing with the disappointment of letting ourselves down.

But when you gain some accountability from someone whose opinion you care about then it can help you take action, get the results and keep going.

After all, action leads to motivation and not the other way around.

So if you are struggling with your goals and you haven't shared what your goals are with anyone else yet, I suggest putting it out there to someone or many people.

It may be just the accountability you need.

And like many tips like this one, you can apply this to any of your life goals and not just fitness.

If you need help, don’t be shy asking. Your accountability partner is likely ready at this very moment.

Have a great day.

Matt

Exercise And Fat Loss (Not What You Might Think)

Hey Ya'll

Let's talk exercise and fat loss.

I got some great questions about this during our latest 6 weeks for $1 promo and it's important to keep addressing it so that it stays front of mind. It’s that important.

One of the biggest ways people try to outsmart their plan is by seeing the plan and saying "I need to exercise more than this".  

They think the more exercise the better and that this will be the driver of their fat loss goals. 

But the truth is that exercising is AMAZING, but it is not a good weight loss tool. And rest/recovery are just as important for your goals as exercise itself.

Regular strength training will get you stronger, protect your bone health and muscle mass, help you develop good body mechanics, improve your energy levels and mood and help with chronic disease management.

And that's just lifting weights regularly 2-4x a week!

Incorporating more healthy movement into your life has even more benefits.  Life changing benefits that will have you feeling your best for many years to come!  If you are in for some extra reading, here is a wonderful article explaining.​

My recommendation for movement is to strength train 2-4x a week and hopefully in a program that you enjoy.  I say "hopefully" because I think you should enjoy all of the exercise you do, but if you really don't enjoy strength training, you should at least enjoy the amazing benefits you'll get from it.

And then the rest I really do want you to enjoy.  Running, walking hiking, biking, swimming, sports, dancing, playing with the kids, step aerobics etc etc.  

Try to be active in some capacity each day, get outside and really enjoy it.

But do it for the health, not for the weight loss.

Here is the quick deal.

If you are doing an hour of cardio per day to lose weight and you burn 1000 calories a day.  That is 7000 calories per week burned.

What if you decide you don't want to do that anymore because it's boring and you don't like it.  Or you no longer have the time.

What if you go on vacation, or get injured.

If that is the driver of your weight loss and you swap from 7 days a week down to 3, that is now 4000 calories less you are burning.  So by the book, you would now have to eat 4000 calories less per week to maintain your weight.

That does not sound pleasant or doable!

Now what if you plateau with your weight loss?

You've been relying on a ton of exercise, so are you going to exercise for 2 hours a day?

Hopefully not!

I feel a little stressed just thinking about feeling like I have to kill myself with exercise just to get results.

But I understand why many feel that way.  Society really sucks with the pressure it puts on us and the bad advice that is out there.

Number one priority would again be to strength train 2-4x a week and then find other movement activities that you enjoy and feel like you will likely be doing the rest of your life.

I do recommend 150+ minutes per week of lower intensity cardio like your walks, jogs, bike rides, general time moving outside along with 1 more intense cardio session each week.

You will likely live well forever if you are keeping up with this routine :)

​And when it comes to weight loss, your nutrition is going to be the real key along with sleep and stress.

Have a great day!

Matt

PS. If I can help in any way, just ask.

Who To Trust For Advice

Hey Ya’ll

Have you ever taken advice from someone and either immediately regretted it, or regretted it later?

Maybe it was a friend, family member or coworker. Or maybe it was a friend of a friend who made a post online about the latest revolutionary fitness or “diet” program.

Here’s the thing about taking advice from others. There is a hierarchy that should be followed whenever possible. The problem is that we often make decisions with emotion instead of logic and we end up regretting it.

So it’s important to be a good consumer, do our research and take advice from the right people.

After all, you would go to the doctor when you are sick. You go to the dentist when your teeth hurt and you go to a mechanic when your car is broken.

So why are you taking health, nutrition and fitness advice or judgement from non experts?

From best to worst, here is the order of people you want to accept advice from.

1. Someone who has done it themselves and helped many others reach the goals you are after. An amazing example here is our coach at Evolve Amy Muench. She was once an Evolve client who lost 40 pounds. She then became one of the strongest women in Canada. She is now a coach helping clients lose fat and also become much stronger. So she’s achieved many goals herself and has coached others to reach their goals.

2. Someone who has helped many others reach the goals you are after.

3. Someone who has reached a similar goal to you. I place this one below #2 because usually if someone has reached a goal but isn’t coaching others than they may only know one way to reach this goal. This is great, but someone who has coached many others will have the experience of dealing with different obstacles and helping people achieve success that are coming from different circumstances.

Now this is pretty much the end of my list. If I have a goal in mind, I am trying to contact and get help from number 1 if possible. And if not possible then I will work my way down the list.

You’ll notice friends, family and coworkers are not on this list.

Your health is the most important thing you have. Without it, all of the other success in the world won’t matter.

So we have to stop taking advice from people who, quite frankly, have no idea what they are talking about.

That sounded a bit harsh but I have been at this for a very long time and it breaks my heart every time I see a client or a friend who is so hopeful about bad advice they got from someone who shouldn’t be giving that kind of advice.

For some extra help, here is some honest help.

Sometimes finding this advice can be expensive. If it’s too expensive, all is not lost.

In the age of social media, you have a lot of free options. If you have a question about your health and fitness goals, I would copy and paste it and email/message as many trusted experts as you can. Not all will answer, but at least one will give you a great response.

Or you can use Youtube for all that it’s worth. This is a little tougher since there are a lot of fads/scams on there but at least your sister in law selling the latest diet pills isn’t. You can find lots of fitness experts and nutrition experts who have years of experience, PhDs and thousands of testimonials on there. This is a great free source of information.

For Youtube, I like to follow only a couple of people so the messaging is consistent and easier to follow.

I truly hope this helps and you can email me for help any time at mathewevolve@gmail.com.

Chat soon.

Matt

How To Overcome Fear

I hope you are having a great day no matter when and where you are reading this. This post is bound to make an impact on you if you are someone (like myself and many others) who sometimes struggles with fear.

I asked my friend, serial entrepreneur and all around great guy Matt Symes "how does a person overcome the fear of doing something or getting started with something".

His answer was fascinating and made so much sense.....

There was a time I was in my hotel room in Santa Monica, heart racing, tears almost coming and wondering if I should go to my first ever business coaching meeting with Craig Ballantyne.

I had it in my head that I was walking into an intimidating room with a bunch of super successful people I had nothing in common with.

And telling myself that I was an idiot for feeling this way and "what is wrong with me".

If I had Matt's advice, I likely would have been more calm.

Matt says when you are feeling this way to make two lists.

List #1: All of the bad things that could happen from you doing the thing.

List #2: All of the good things that could happen from doing the thing.

Then you likely realize all of the bad things are very unlikely to happen and if you don't do it you are missing out on all of the good things!

I didn’t make these lists, but I did take a deep breath and make my way to the meeting. After I sat down, Josh from Memphis introduced himself to me and our table and the tables around us quickly filled up with smiling business owners from all over the world.

My fears quickly went away, nothing bad happened to me and I came away from that meeting with life long friends and a renewed focus on the business. The picture attached is me and Coach Craig. He’s been an instrumental mentor throughout the last 6 years of my entrepreneurial journey.

The great thing about successful people is that most of them started from scratch and worked their way up over a long period of time. So instead of looking down on the beginners, they are actually super open to helping them because they likely got some help when they were in that stage. This goes for business, fitness and many other areas of life.

Now how can we apply Matt’s wise words about fear to various situations in our lives?

Joining the gym. Asking the person out. Asking the boss for a raise etc. Let’s talk about fitness and joining a gym for the first time.

What are the bad things that could happen? People could make fun of you, you could get injured, you could pee your pants in front of others or you could have a panic attack. None of those things would be very fun but they are all very unlikely.

What are all the good things that could come from joining a gym? You could make some amazing new fitness friends, you could get in the best shape of your life, you could have more energy than you ever had, you could be a role model for your kids, you could become more productive at work and so much more.

Would the good outweigh the bad enough for you to get started on your fitness goals?

I hope this helps you as much as it did me and I hope that if you have health and fitness related goals that you send me an email mathewevolve@gmail.com. I am happy to give you a tour of one of our locations and give you specific advice of where to go based on your current situation.

Matt

Matt & Craig Ballantyne