A no-nonsense personal trainer has claimed that we’re ‘too soft’ about using the word fat.
James Smith, a British-born, Bondi-based trainer – who has been called the ‘Gordon Ramsay of the fitness world’ – appeared on Good Morning Britain today where he claimed we need to return to ‘grassroots’ methods of weight loss.
He explained that while he uses the word ‘fat’ he doesn’t shame his clients, and said he believes that the rise in social media has made people afraid to use certain rhetoric around weight-loss.
A no-nonsense personal trainer (James Smith pictured) who has been called the ‘Gordon Ramsay of the fitness world’ claimed that we’re ‘too soft’ about using the word fat
The PT appeared on Good Morning Britain today where he claimed we need to return to ‘grassroots’ methods of weight loss
He said: ‘I use the word fat, but I don’t go around calling people fat.
‘In the same sense that if you see a homeless person, you might give them a couple of pounds – but you don’t feel the need to say “You’re really poor mate”.
He went on: ‘It’s something we need to offer a solution to. I use the word “fat” – I use it for myself.
‘After Christmas, I wasn’t dodging round the word, I was like “Guys, I’ve got a bit fat”.
James uploads videos to his Instagram page busting myths on weight loss and explaining the best way to achieve your goals
James feels that the rise in social media has made people afraid to use certain rhetoric around weight-loss
‘I think we’re becoming very soft around this word and I’m pretty sure before Twitter people were fine with using that word’.
Host Susanna Reid went on to quiz the trainer, saying: ‘I put on half a stone over Christmas, do you think I’m fat?’
He quickly joked in reply: ‘Well, if you didn’t put on half a stone I don’t think you did Christmas right.
The trainer went on to explain that while there’s no point in shaming others, overweight people need to be educated in exercise and nutrition.
He said: ‘We need to tell people why they’re fat, more so than just saying it.
‘A lot of people seem to think they’re fat through bad luck. Unless someone is absorbing calories through the sun, they’re over-consuming for the amount they move.
James joked with hosts Susanna Reid (right) and Piers Morgan(middle) that he calls himself ‘fat’ after gaining weight over Christmas
He told that while he isn’t afraid of the word ‘fat’, he doesn’t feel the need to fat shame people
‘There are so many scapegoats going out, but no. We need to go back to grassroots on that.’
The no-nonsense personal trainer previously revealed why women must work out differently to men.
The first thing James highlighted is that men are typically bigger than women with more muscle mass.
This means they can burn more calories than women in an allotted space of time.
Speaking to his Instagram page, he said: ‘Now, don’t get me wrong, if I put a man and a woman on a spin bike and I make them burn 1,000 calories, they would have the same amount of fat loss and their calories would be the same.
James (pictured) said it will take a woman longer than a man to see the same results in the gym, so if you and your partner work out for an hour, you’d have to stay back an extra 30 minutes to see the same results
‘However, it can take the woman 33 per cent longer to the burn the same amount of calories as a man, so these considerations must be made.’
James said you should not be ‘disheartened’ if your boyfriend or partner is seeing faster results in the gym, because this is natural for their body type.
‘If you both enjoy a bottle of wine and a tub of calories at the weekend and you share a lift to the gym and spend an hour there, you would have to stay behind for 30 minutes more to equate the same amount of calories as he would,’ he said.
In simple terms, while your partner might lose 5kg, you might only lose two or three.
But while you might want to go further and harder to see the same results as your partner, what James wants you to know is that women need to carry more fat than men.
‘Between menstruation and menopause, one of the primary roles for women is to produce babies,’ James said.
‘There has to be more energy in reserve for a female to survive pregnancy, and this is often massively overlooked when women set their goals.’