Monthly Archive for April, 2012

5 Principles For The FASTEST Fat Loss

Published on April 26, 2012 in Diet, fat loss, stubborn fat, Transformation, weight and weight loss. 0 Comments

By guest blogger, Joel Marion

In Tuesday’s article, 5 Things LIMITING You From The FASTEST Fat Loss, we talked about just that—the 5 biggest fat loss “killers” present in most diet and exercise programs that are holding you back from achieving the most rapid results.  If you have yet to read that article, click HERE (page opens in a new window) to check it out as today’s article won’t make much sense without first having absorbed that content.

For those of you who have already read that article, today, I’m here to talk to you about the “fixes”. Let’s get right in to it:

Principle #1 – You must keep your body and metabolism happy.

As mentioned in yesterday’s article, dieting can do a number on your metabolism by screwing with important fat burning hormones like leptin, and rather quickly at that.  The answer to overcoming these adaptations lies in strategic high-calorie Cheat Days.

As you recall, leptin is heavily mediated by your calorie intake.  Decrease calories and leptin levels fall off, increase calories and leptin levels recover.

And while it takes roughly a week of moderate dieting for leptin levels to fall off significantly, it only takes one day of cheating, or overfeeding, for leptin to recover back to baseline.

By frequently resetting your metabolism throughout the course of your diet with strategic high-calorie Cheat Days, you can essentially have your cake and eat it too while watching your waistline continually shrink week after week.

Principle #2 – You must create a massive calorie deficit to lose fat rapidly.

There’s no way around it, a pound of fat is 3500 calories.  If you’re going to lose a pound of fat, you’re going to have to create a 3500 calorie deficit (while keeping your body in “fat burning mode” at the same time).  If you want to lose 10 lbs of pure fat, that’ll require a 35,000 calorie deficit.

SIDE NOTE: Please realize that 10 lbs of pure fat loss will probably equate to somewhere between 15 and 20 lbs of actual “weight loss” due to the simultaneous water loss that occurs any time you lose fat.

After a cheat day your body is uber primed for fat loss, and it’s prime time to take advantage with a mega calorie deficit.  On this day, we do two things:

1.  Consume minimal calories along with strategic supplementation to offset muscle catabolism.

2.  Ramp up activity to burn a ton of additional calories on this day

With this type of strategic set-up, it’s actually possible to burn a pound of pure fat in one day (considering that a pound of fat loss a week is deemed a “very good” rate of fat loss by most standards, that’s pretty awesome).

Principle #3:  You must tackle your fat loss goals synergistically through diet and exercise.

When you’re talking about the most strategic set-up and the most rapid fat loss, things get a little more complex than simply “do a lot of exercise”.  In fact, the type of exercise you do is just as important to your rapid fat loss goals as the frequency, duration, and intensity are.

With the Xtreme Fat Loss diet, you’ll see that there is a specific type or style of workout that we’ve purposefully chosen for each type of day to optimize and accelerate the results of that day.

Here is just one example:

Lactic Acid Training, which are very metabolically demanding, calorie-burning workouts, are performed on Depletion Days.

Because lactic acid workouts have the potential to burn more calories than other styles of training (because…they’re hard), they are the clear choice for Depletion Days when we want to create the largest caloric deficit.  Lactic acid training also depletes the body’s “energy reserve”, making them the ideal workout style for Depletion Days.

Principle #4:  You must avoid ANY positive weight gain.

When I first started teaching Cheat Days it was understood that there may be some positive fat gain as a result of a Cheat Day in order to yield MORE fat loss the following week (leading to a great net weekly fat loss).

For example, without incorporating strategic Cheat Days, let’s say someone is able to lose a pound a week (with each week’s weight loss becoming progressively slower leading to the inevitable plateau).

With strategic cheating that same person is able to now lose 2 lbs each week (with no drop off in metabolism and no plateau).  This is a result of a half pound gain in body fat from the Cheat Day and a subsequent 2.5 pound loss (net loss = 2 lbs).

Now, the latter scenario is obviously WAY better than sticking to the same boring, strict diet every day while achieving slower results, but it still leaves a half pound of fat gain resulting from the Cheat Day, which, if eliminated = faster results.

Within muscle tissue, energy is stored in the form of glycogen (carbohydrate energy) and triglycerides (fat energy).  With strategic training (like the lactic acid training mentioned in principle #3), these energy stores can be depleted or exhausted.

Why would you want to do that?

To make “room” for an influx of calories, carbohydrate and fat (for example, a Cheat Day)!

When glycogen and triglyceride stores are full, a Cheat Day is like pouring more liquid into an already full glass.  Some of that liquid is inevitably going to spill over and lead to a bit of a mess (in this case, fat storage).  But, if you dump out the glass and then refill it, there’s no “overflow”.

This is exactly what we do by performing glycogen and triglyceride depleting lactic acid training (while limiting carbohydrate intake) on the day prior to a Cheat Day.  We empty the cup making room for the following day’s influx of cals, carbs, and fat.

The result?  You get the same hormone-boosting, metabolism stimulating effect from the Cheat Day without the fat gain.  Instead, the excess calories and carbs simply go to refilling your body’s empty energy stores.  That, my friends, is what I call strategy.

And by eliminating any Cheat Day fat gain, you can easily increase your rate of fat loss by 25%!

Principle #5—You must maintain muscle mass to maintain metabolism.

This ties back in to some of the information I shared in Principle #3, the strategic combination of diet & exercise for optimal results, along with something else I haven’t fully touched on yet.

When faced with long-term calorie restriction, the body will choose to utilize muscle tissue for energy over body fat, leading to significant muscle loss and decreased metabolism for most dieters. Simply put, fat is more valuable to your body than “extra muscle” when it comes to survival, and it prioritizes accordingly in the face of long-term calorie restriction.

But, when you understand how to combine strategic cheat days along with high volume training to spark muscle growth even while you’re dieting, then you’ll easily be able to maintain (if not gain a couple pounds) of lean muscle throughout the course of only a few weeks.

Muscle = metabolism.  The more lean muscle you have on your frame, the higher your metabolism is going to be.  Muscle burns calories just sitting there.  Maintaining it as you lose fat is fundamentally important to continuing to lose fat at an optimal rate.

Another way this program helps you maintain muscle is via Principle #1 – keeping your body happy.  When your body remains in a “normal” state (instead of a “red alert” state like with long-term calorie restriction) over the course of a diet, there is no reason for it to resort to muscle tissue for energy.  By keeping leptin levels high week after week, you maintain your metabolism and program your body to continue to burn fat, not muscle.

Wrap Up

You now KNOW what’s limiting your fat loss along with my 5 top principles to overcome those limitations.  As you can see, it’s ALL strategy and every single piece of the puzzle makes a huge difference.

Thanks for the great info Joel!

Doesn’t reading that article make you excited about the fat loss possibilities that you are capable of? If you are ready to experience just how FAST fat loss can be when you unlock the power of strategic, synergistic program design, then next week we have a nice surprise for you! On Tuesday, May 1st, the discounted pre-sale will open and you’ll have the chance to get your own copy of the fastest fat loss diet in history. I’m even considering following this one myself.

Have an awesome weekend!

Sue

5 Things Limiting You from the FASTEST Fat Loss

Published on April 24, 2012 in Diet, fat loss, stubborn fat, Transformation, weight and weight loss. 0 Comments

By Joel Marion

Have you ever wondered what may be holding you back from the FASTEST fat loss?

Why you’ve only been able to lose fat at an “average” speed, if at all?

Well, the fact of the matter is this: there’s probably certain things built in to the very diet and exercise program that YOU are doing, things that you don’t even realize are inhibiting you from achieving the most rapid results.

Fortunately, you’re in luck, because that’s exactly what this article is all about—uncovering what I consider to be the top 5 fat loss “killers” plaguing diets and training programs alike, ultimately slowing down your results despite your most intense efforts.

Limiting Factor #1: Your Metabolism

In reality, it’s not really your metabolism that’s the problem, but rather the effect that most fat loss programs, particularly diets, have on your metabolism.

In order to understand this, we need to go back in time a bit to the day in which our “hunter and gather” ancestors roamed the Earth. For those individuals, survival was king, and in order to survive, they had to do the whole “eating” thing just like we do.


Unfortunately, things weren’t quite as easy for this group as they are today. No supermarkets. No drive-through meal deals. Instead, when our primitive ancestors wanted a nice steak, they had to go find it.

This inevitably meant that there were plenty of instances in which our yester-year counterparts went without food for days at a time. And at other times, namely during the winter months, their bodies were forced to get by on very little food and calories each day.

And the reason why they didn’t die? There’s only one—the body’s natural defence against starvation.

Don’t get enough calories for an extended period of time? No problem, the body simply causes ”bad” hormones, fat storage enzymes, and hunger to all increase while “good” hormones, metabolism, and fat burning enzymes all take a dive.

Enter “starvation mode.”

Friend to our ancestors; anything but to the dieter.

You see, dieting, although planned, is nothing more than a lesser degree of premeditated starvation.

Go on a diet—any diet—and it won’t be long until the body begins fighting for every ounce of your body fat. You want to lose it; your body wants to keep it. And guess what? Your body wins every time.

Sad scenario, I know.

Limiting Factor #2: Inadequate Negative Calorie Balance

There’s no getting around the fact that if you want to lose fat as fast as humanly possible you have to create the greatest negative calorie balance possible.

But, at the same time you’ll need to do it WITHOUT pissing off your body to the point in which it shuts down and begins to fight against your fat loss efforts (i.e. the “starvation mode” that we just talked about).

Indeed, it is a thin, fine line in which, unfortunately, almost all diets fall somewhere to the left or the right.

You have those diets that create a moderate calorie deficit, leading to moderate results (at least for short while). That’s OK, but if we’re talking about the FASTEST fat loss, the deficit simply isn’t great enough.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum we have “crash” diets and other severe diets which fail to take in to account ANY knowledge of the body and the regulation of human bodyweight and metabolism. A week or two on any of these approaches and you’ll likely:

1. Lose muscle
2. Lose a bunch of water
3. Lose a bit of fat
4. Destroy your metabolism
5. Set yourself up to quickly rebound back beyond your original bodyweight
6. Achieve a “skinny fat” physique in which you’re still carrying substantial body fat, only now with no muscle.

Awesomen’t. (And by that, I mean, not awesome.)

Limiting Factor #3: Zero Synergy Between Your Diet And Exercise Programming

I honestly think this is the most overlooked area of fat loss. Most people simply pick a diet and then pick a training program, or vice versa, without ever really thinking how those two programs work hand in hand, or if they DON’T provide any additional benefit to one another.

Allow me to illustrate my point with a few mathematical equations:

1 + 1 = 0
1 + 1 = 2
1 + 1 = 3

And believe it or not, I actually did graduate first grade.

While not true in the absolute mathematical sense, all three of the above equations are representative of the results people achieve from their diet and exercise programs.

In each equation, think of the first number as diet, the second as exercise, and the third as the result achieved by the combination.

Or simply, Diet + Exercise = Result

So, in the first equation, Diet + Exercise = Zero Result. Unfortunately many people are stuck in this boat because of damaged metabolisms and some of the reasons we’ve shared previously.

In the second equation, we have Diet + Exercise = The expected result (and additive effect of the two).

But in the third equation, this is where the magic happens—when diet and exercise team up to achieve a greater result than the additive effect of either of them alone. That’s synergy—when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Unfortunately, most diet and exercise programs are represented by one of the first two equations, because they simply aren’t designed to work together in every aspect.

Limiting Factor #4: Positive Energy Balance

Positive Energy Balance simply is any point in your diet in which you consume more calories than you burn, ultimately resulting in those surplus level of calories being stored as fat.

This could be the result of a dietary “screw up” in which you fall off your diet completely or a “planned” cheat day which results in positive calorie balance.

Naturally, any time you are gaining fat on a fat loss program you are moving in the opposite direction of your results and in some way, shape or form, slowing your progress.

Limiting Factor #5: Muscle Loss

The unfortunate reality is that 99% of diets result in a significant amount of muscle loss. This has several big time consequences:

1. You’re not going to achieve the LOOK you want by losing muscle. Most men would agree with that statement right out, but for women, allow me to demonstrate its truth:

Those are both size 2 bodies (size 6 in Australian sizes). The difference? The one on the left looks OK while the one on the right is smokin’ hot. The REAL difference? Muscle.

While the exact same size, the physique on the right is comprised mostly of dense, shapely, tone muscle, while the image on the left…isn’t.

If you just want to be “thin” while still hiding behind your clothes because you’re not 100% proud of your body, then losing muscle is a great way to get you there. But if you want to look great naked, believe me, you want to hold on to every ounce you have as you lose fat.

2. Losing muscle = decreased metabolism. Muscle burns calories at rest; essentially, it’s the fuel that keeps your metabolism operating at full blast. When you lose muscle as you diet, not only does it slow your week to week progress by decreasing overall metabolism, but it also sets you up to easily and quickly gain back lost weight as a result of the cumulative decrease in metabolism over time.

A “smaller” version of the same body, decreased week to week progress, and long-term metabolism issues?

Count. Me. Out.

Do you want to overcome these 5 limiting factors and begin achieving the FASTEST fat loss?

Joel will be back in a couple of days with advice on how to overcome the above 5 factors. Stay tuned!

Foods That Fight Cellulite and aging

Published on April 18, 2012 in cellulite, Diet, fat loss, food, Recipes, stubborn fat and weight loss. 2 Comments

One of the most effective treatments for cellulite includes losing excess body fat through a healthy diet of some really amazing foods – detailed below – together with a lifestyle that reduces stress and increases movement via targeted exercise.

Today I’m going to share some information on foods to help you reduce cellulite and prevent premature aging.

The following excerpt is taken from my Female Fat Free Solution program which includes a comprehensive list of the benifits of 22 superfoods. Superfoods such as the ones discussed below can not only helpto create a lean, healthy, dimple-free body, but also reduce the risk of a myriad of diseases and illnesses as well as significantly improve your mood.

1. Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar is an effective natural antibacterial agent that contains many vital minerals and trace elements such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, chlorine, sodium, sulfur, copper, iron, silicon and fluorine.

No one is really sure how apple cider vinegar works to promote weight loss, but there is no shortage of theories.

It is generally believed that the nutrients, enzymes, and organic acids in apple cider vinegarcause weight reduction by acting as an appetite suppressant, by increasing your body’s metabolic rate, by reducing water retention, and by helping you maintaina feeling of wellbeing. However, the immune system boosting effects of apple cider vinegar are profound, and the vitamins and minerals it contains can contribute to athletic performance and muscle growth.

Many commercial applecider vinegars have been pasteurized, filtered, refined or distilled in order to make the product look good, and thereby more appealing to the general public.

Unfortunately this extra processing destroys much of the healthy goodness and thus many of theapple cider benefits that were in the product in the first place.

The best type of apple cider vinegar to use is one made from cold pressed, organically grown whole apples, in which no chemicals or preservatives have been added, which contains the “mother of vinegar”, and is not pasteurized. The “mother of vinegar” is a natural gelatinous substance formed during the last fermentation step.

SUE’S TIP: I love using apple cider vinegar in salad dressings – try this one: 2 parts apple cider vinegar to 1 part Udo’s Oil (or olive oil), a teaspoon of pure organic maple syrup, a little stevia if a sweeter flavor is required, a pinch of onion
powder, and a pinch of chili flakes. A little lemon juice can be added too.

2. Avocado

High in vitamins and vital nutrients, avocados are a rich and delicious addition to a healthful diet. Just one medium avocado contains 5 grams of dietary fibre, making it a great high fibre food source that can lower your risk of heart
disease. They are also high in essential fats which are known to fight free radicals, lower blood cholesterol and burn more body fat.

Avocados are one of my favourite foods! Chicken with avocado is a match made in heaven.

3. Berries

Cranberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and cherries are not only a delicious and healthful fruit, but they are full of antioxidants and fibre. A powerful source against inflammation and free radicals, berries are lower in calories than other fruit and some provide up to one-third of your daily fibre in as little as one cup! Besides the benefits to your body, consider thebenefits to your brain – some studies show that as little as one-half cup of mixed berries a day improves cognition and motor performance. That’s one yummy super-food! I absolutely love berries.

SUE’S TIP: I love adding frozen raspberries to chocolate whey protein. I simple mix a little water to the powder to make a thick consistency, add the frozen raspberries, and top with some natural or Greek yoghurt. Add a little bran for fibure if required. Yum…who needs chocolate?

Sue

PS: For information on more super superfoods, and how they can help you achieve a lean, fit, dimple-free body, see the Female Fat Free Solution.