I am not a personal trainer, dietitian or a nutritionist, the only real credit I have to my name is the fact that I have been within my “healthy weight range” according to my doctor, my entire life. While I believe exercise has many benefits in maintaining cardiovascular health, flexibility, bone and muscle density, but  in terms of fat loss, it seems the results are often greatly exaggerated.

It is far too easy to over-consume energy that counteracts all of the hard work that you put forth at the gym.So how do you lose fat? Well, personally I think the answer is pretty straight forward: Stop eating so much. Instead of working off those extra calories, doesn’t it make sense to not eat them in the first place? (When I say this, I’m not suggesting to starve yourself, just be more conscious of what and how much you put into your body)

There is a ton of advice out there for weight-loss, it seems that everyone has a share of this billion-dollar industry.  There is one common denominator, one thing that all those  “experts” can agree on, and that is “eat less than you burn.” I am not here to tell you what to eat, when to eat it, or stress on what not to eat, every body is different. Make up your own personal set of “rules” to eat less, and tweak them as necessary.

Here are my rules that I live by:

1. Increase the weekly variety of foods (to maximize nutrient intake) but reduce the variety in each individual meal. When you limit your number of options at your meal you get bored quicker and tend to stop eating sooner. This is why I get the fullest at buffets and potlucks where as soon as you get bored of one thing, you move onto another. This can explain why you are always able to eat dessert even if you are stuffed.

2. Drink at least 2-3 liters of water a day, and take in 35 grams of fiber. This ensures that I never confuse hunger with thirst, and the fiber fills you up much better.

3. No snacking. I eat 3 square meals a day (sometimes even 2). Yes this differs from a lot of the nutritional advice currently out there, but my parents, and my grandparents lived by this rule, and people in their time were much smaller than our current population. If I must snack, it will be a piece of fruit or some veggies. I just find it much easier to prevent myself from overeating at 2-3 meals than at 5-6.

Make up your own set of rules or use mine, and change them as needed. I find that the three I have listed has made it very easy to limit my food intake.

Moral of the story: exercise for the pure enjoyment of it, reduce your overall calorie intake to lose the spare tire.

Have you ever wondered why you feel amazing while in the sun, but  five hours later you get that infamous tight, red, itchy, painful, lobster-esque feeling? Sunburns for the most part happen because the layers of your skin are still very hot (even outside of the sun). The heat on the surface of your skin then goes and penetrates deeper and deeper into your epidermis (first-layer) and sometimes even dermis (second-layer) causing blistering.

Steps for treatment:

1. Put out the fire! Immediately put a cold, wet source onto your inflamed skin. This can be as easy as damping a towel and applying it to the parts of your body that feel hot. Continue for at least 15 minutes, pain may not occur right away.

2. One (tried tested, and true) technique that burn treatment centers use is egg whites placed onto the sunburnt skin. The protein in egg-whites speed up the healing process, as well as soothes dry, burned flesh. Place a couple egg-whites on the affected skin, let it dry and repeat until the burning sensation goes away.

3. Never place butter or Vaseline on your skin immediately out of the sun. Your grandmother was most likely the culprit to introduce this incorrect technique. These two substances in particular insulates the burn, causing it to go deeper into your skin.

4. Make sure to cover the burn with a clean, sterile dressing. Burns, especially the blistering type are very prone to infections and need to be cleaned with soap and water until healed.

The sad truth-of-the-matter is that sun tanning, and sunburns (particularly in children) is a precursor to skin-cancer.  Many Canadians have light skin and are not dealt the right cards to handle much sun-exposure.

Moral of the story: Cover up, stay out of the brightest hours of the day (10am-3pm), and lather up with sunscreen when outdoors to protect your delicate skin!

Steps for treatment:

1. Pinch just above the nostrils for at least 10 minutes to allow enough time for scab formation
2. Lean forward permitting blood to drain out of you instead of coagulating into the back of your throat.
3. Cold/ice packs are great resources that you can use to promote vasoconstriction disallowing blood-flow.
4. If all else fails, putting pressure on your maxillary artery (half an inch above your front teeth) acts as a pressure point to reduce the bleed.

Never insert cotton-balls up your nose! While working as an EMT, I was examining the eye of an 15 year old girl who put 9 cotton-balls up her bloody nose, to my disbelief a blood-clot had traveled from her nasal cavity into a blood vessel in her sclera (the white part of your eye). If that wasn’t bad enough, watching her sneeze out the five-inch congealed clot full of mucus was almost enough to call it quits.  If you absolutely must put something in your nose, make sure you can take it out. A common technique used by many sports-med trainers is a tampon, cut in half and put into each nostril.

If you are constantly getting nosebleeds or if the hemorrhaging continues profusely for more than 20 minutes, consult your doctor; serious underlying medical conditions may manifest as nosebleeds. Vaseline at the base of your nostrils has shown to moisten the airway decreasing the risk for bleeds caused by a dry climate.

Moral of the story: keep your fingers out of the orifices of your face.

Derek is one of the firefighters participating in this event

Courses are regularly priced with 25% of all the course fees going towards the Calgary firefighter’s burn treatment society. This money raised funds and promotes awareness for the Burn Treatment Center at the Foothills Medical Center in Calgary, Alberta.

• CPR level C (6 hours): $80
• Emergency First Aid (8 hours): $90
• Emergency Childcare first aid (8 hours): $90
• …as well as all of our refresher courses.

The firefighters will have their calendars, their popular custom Ladies T-Shirts, Men’s T-shirts, and Long sleeve shirts available for $20.00. The entire proceeds of calendar and shirt sales go to their charity.

Tell your friends! To register: visit our registration page or call (403) 461-1313. Spaces are limited!