Sunday, August 8, 2010

The Ultimate Strategy To Lose Belly Fat Rapidly

Do you struggle to lose belly fat? I bet you think you have bad genetics, don’t you? You probably believe that you’ve tried every possible program or technique out there to try to burn your stubborn belly fat, but it just never seems to work... does it? 

I'm sure you’ve seen countless advertisements making “too good to be true” miracle claims, promising that you will lose belly fat EASILY with their “magic” cream, pill or hyped-up infomercial ab-gadget.
Come on now! Let’s get real. I want to make sure that those deceitful marketers have insulted your intelligence for the very last time. Let's get past the gimmicks and get right down to what really works. I want to help you win the battle of the bulge forever. Trust me, it’s easier than you think.

It is important to understand that both proper nutrition and targeted training must work synergistically if you want to lose belly fat at an accelerated pace. So let’s discuss both of these important aspects to ensure that you get on the right path towards achieving your very own set of six pack abs.

The first critical principle to help you get rid of your belly fat revolves around your nutrition plan. It’s important to realize that typical dieting actually PREVENTS your body from losing belly fat. You see, if you follow any diet that forces you to constantly restrict one of the macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat), something very unfortunate occurs: you will lose weight, but the majority of that weight will come from your lean muscle, NOT from body fat!
Losing lean muscle is the last thing you want to do. It makes you look terrible, and even worse, it lowers your metabolism, which will immediately stop your fat loss plan dead in its tracks! Once your metabolism starts to drop, you will find it almost impossible to lose any body fat at all. As you can see, the wrong diet can have drastic effects on your body.

You see, our bodies are meant to eat a diet full of a diverse array of foods from healthy, natural sources of carbohydrates, proteins, AND fats. This type of nutritional plan provides your body with all of the essential nutrients it needs to function optimally as a healthy and efficient fat-burning machine!

Now let’s talk about the second and equally important principle: how to properly structure your workouts. In order to burn your stomach fat, you need to stop wasting your time performing traditional abdominal exercises such as crunches, leg lifts, and side bends in the hopes of burning your belly fat and love handles.
The truth is you will not lose belly fat by doing exercises that target the stomach area. Unfortunately, most trainees don’t know this. Thus, they spend WAY too much of their training time trying to target their stomach with countless repetitions of various ab exercises.

Now don't get me wrong, performing the correct number of abdominal exercises is important, and when done properly, they can carve the abdominal musculature, strengthen your midsection and help you maintain a healthy back. But the fact is that direct ab exercises should only be a small portion of your workout routines. The majority of your time should be spent focusing on multi-joint exercises that primarily work the major muscle groups of the body like the legs, chest and back, while working the abs secondarily as a stabilizer.
By focusing your attention on the major muscle groups, you will stimulate your metabolic rate both during and after your workouts. In addition, you will also increase the level of fat-burning hormones within your body. You simply can’t get this type of metabolic and hormonal response by cranking out endless sets of various types of crunches.

So if you want to lose belly fat fast, try doing some squats, lunges, step-ups, rows, pulls, and a variety of presses and dead lifting movements.
You must also remember to perform each workout at a high intensity. That means no 5-minute rest periods between sets while you try to make new friends at the water fountain! Keep in mind that losing your belly fat for good requires some intensity in your workouts, so you need to be completely focused and “all business” when you are training!

And in case you were wondering, please know this: Anybody who tells you that you can lose belly fat quickly by popping some pill or by sitting on your recliner while watching TV with some "ab-belt" strapped to your belly is lying straight to your face!

I could go on and on about more strategies for losing your belly fat fast, the natural way, but that would be beyond the scope of this article. Start to put even these basic principles into practice, and you will start to lose belly fat faster than you thought you ever could!

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How To Be The Biggest Loser...The Right Way!

My girlfriend is obsessed with The Biggest Loser. No, I'm not referring to myself! I'm referring to the very popular television show in which people compete to lose as much weight as possible, as quickly as they can. I don't think that she has missed a single episode. She loves to see the dramatic weight loss progress that the contestants make each week. She is so passionate about the show, she convinced me to watch it with her each week. I must admit, the show is quite entertaining and I do enjoy watching it with her.
But, from a weight loss standpoint, I'm not impressed. The goal of the show is to lose weight as fast as possible. In order to do this, the contestants engage in very extreme programs that are designed to cause rapid reductions in bodyweight. Rapid weight loss is great, right? Not so fast! This is not necessarily the case. Here's why:

First of all, weight loss is not the same as fat loss. More often then not, the "weight" these people lose is composed of lean muscle tissue, water weight, and some body fat. Unfortunately, it turns out that losing muscle actually causes your metabolism to slow significantly, which makes losing body fat even more difficult than it was before. So losing any muscle at all is really not desirable if you intend to maintain your fat loss results on a permanent basis.

Because of this, I have actually found that a rapid reduction in bodyweight significantly increases the chances of gaining all of the weight back.

But everyone wants to lose weight quickly, right? No. When I train a client, I don't want you to lose WEIGHT...I want them to lose FAT. And of course I want them to lose FAT as quickly as possible, but this must be done carefully, correctly and scientifically, or else you are doomed to regain whatever fat you might manage to lose in the first place.

When a sound fat loss program is executed properly, one can lose excess body fat at an astonishing rate while maintaining one's lean muscle. Maintaining muscle is essential to keeping your metabolic rate elevated, which is a MUST if permanent fat loss is going to be possible. This is what impresses me; the ability to maintain your fat loss results. I don't care how much weight you can lose if it's just going to come right back again. I want to see you change your body forever!
Let's take a look at what someone does who not only lost their excess body fat but succeeded in keeping it off. For these are the people who have truly achieved real fat loss success.
First, dieters who achieve long term success typically engage in a regular exercise program. More specifically, I have found that maintainers perform 45 minutes or more at least 3 days per week. This exercise regimen should consist of resistance training in addition to cardiovascular training.
On the other hand, many "big losers" simply follow extreme fad diets without increasing their activity. And on the rare occasions when exercise is a part of their protocol, it usually only consists of low-intensity aerobic work.
Another difference that separates the successful from the unsuccessful can be found in their general accountability to themselves or someone else. For example, if you have to meet a training partner at the gym you will be less likely to miss the workout. An example of being accountable to yourself would be regularly taking your body fat percentage.
Some simple accountability can literally make the difference between success and failure. Here are some tips to ensure YOUR Fat Loss Success!
  1. Keep your activity level high. Once you achieve your fitness goals, it is very important to continue to exercise. Oftentimes I will witness someone achieve their goal weight or body fat percentage and then just stop training. It is no surprise when I see them stroll back into the gym a couple months later looking exactly like they did before they ever started their program.
  2. Emphasize resistance training. Resistance training will keep your metabolism buzzing far greater than going for a walk on the treadmill ever could.
  3. Continue to control portion size. If measuring your food seems like too much of an inconvenience for you, simply measure your food portions once to get an idea of your ideal portion size, and then eyeball your food quantities thereafter.
  4. Focus on losing fat and not just weight! Measuring your body fat percentage is the best way to ensure that your weight loss is actually coming from fat and not lean muscle.
  5. Cheat on your diet. Yes you read that correctly. Eat whatever food you want once per week. This will give you something to look forward to each week and prevent you from ever feeling deprived.
There is one rule your must follow when cheating. You must stop your cheat meal and as soon as you're full. This must not turn into an entire day of gluttonous binge eating. Enjoy it!
If you're currently embarking on a fat loss journey, follow these simple tips and easily beat the "regain odds". Success is finally at your fingertips!
 
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Saturday, August 7, 2010

Fat Loss Tip To Avoid Weight Regain

If you want to lose body fat as fast as possible, there are a several obvious things you absolutely must do, in addition to some things that are not so obvious. In this article, we will discuss one of the not-so-obvious necessities for maximal fat loss. This one tip can make a huge difference in your bottom line results. Unfortunately, it typically goes unnoticed by most dieters.

Research has proven that during calorie restriction, dieters experience a decrease in physical activity. This is no secret to an experienced fat loss coach. However, although many dieters experience the energy zapping effects of dieting, they are unaware of the direct correlation.

This is a serious problem because when you start to move less, you will burn fewer calories and slow your metabolism. If you are to lose fat effectively and keep it off for life, you must consciously push yourself through the fatigue and stay active. If you don’t make this effort your weight loss will slow down DESPITE a low caloric intake.

This is also one of the main reasons why so many dieters rapidly regain the weight that they have lost on calorie-restrictive diets. 

This reduction in energy levels is simply part of the body’s “survival response”. In order to survive a state of calorie deprivation, your body will want to burn less fuel in order to conserve its energy reserves.
You see, your body doesn’t know whether you are intentionally reducing calories to better fit into your bathing suit, or you are entering starvation mode due to a life threatening famine. So this metabolic slowdown is actually a safety precaution that could save your life in times of famine – but in this modern day and age, the same physiological phenomenon turns out to be every dieter’s biggest nightmare.

If you always go about your fat loss goals by following low calorie diets, I’m sure you experience fast initial weight loss followed by a plateau, and lastly followed by a swift rebound in your weight. This plan will give you a false sense of “success” initially. Then you will regain all of your weight (and then some) before you begin this process all over again.

When you want REAL, sustainable results, you’ll need a completely different plan. In order to achieve permanent fat loss, you MUST burn off your body fat with higher levels of exercise (both resistance training and intervals) in addition to following a nutritional plan consisting of clean food.

Some people claim to have real-life stories of dieters losing weight without exercising. Although you can lose weight by dieting alone, you will never truly transform your body. 

Dieting alone leads to substantial losses in lean muscle tissue. This means a significant portion of your weight loss is coming from losses in muscle rather than fat. This is obviously not your goal. Furthermore, losing this metabolic stimulating muscle mass will actually slow down your metabolism considerably, making future fat loss and maintenance of your fat loss virtually impossible.

So if you want to transform your body once and for all, follow this advice. Diet moderately and burn your fat through a well-designed training routine. This way, you will be energized instead of exhausted, satisfied instead of hungry and fit instead of “skinny-fat”. Now get moving towards your new body!
 
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Best Weight Loss Tips From Your Mom!

My mom always told me to sit down and eat my food slowly. So just like any other defiant teenager, I stood tall and inhaled my entire meal as fast as humanly possible. Although I hate to admit it after all these years, my mother was actually giving me very good sound fat loss advice – and good eating habits too.
Some of you might be surprised to hear that the rate at which you eat can affect your body fat. In fact, new research has recently proven that overweight people tend to eat more quickly and also eat more food per bite.

This research confirms findings from earlier studies, which found that eating slowly leads to decreases in total food intake. In other words, the more time you take to eat, the fewer calories you are likely to consume. And conversely, the more quickly you eat, the more calories you are likely to consume.
But that’s not all! Research has also shown that you can use this phenomenon to achieve even greater fat loss results. There are several foods that either force you to eat more slowly, or force you to eat fewer calories. Adding some of these foods to your daily routine is a very smart fat-burning nutritional technique.
Foods that force you to intake your calories at a slower pace include:
  • Foods that have a high fiber content will make you feel full more rapidly. Examples are vegetables such as green beans, cauliflower, asparagus, spinach, etc.
  • Foods that have a high water content will also make you feel full more quickly. Some examples are fresh fruits such as berries, melons, apples, and pears. Others are cooked whole grains such as barley, brown rice and oatmeal. These grains absorb a lot of water during the cooking process, which causes them swell up. This increased volume helps you feel full more quickly, and thus you don’t need to eat as much of it before you feel satisfied.
  • Foods with a high chew requirement will make you eat more slowly. Even if you try to eat these foods fast, you simply can’t because it takes so long to chew them thoroughly. Examples of foods with a high chew requirement are fibrous vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli.
  • Foods with low binge potential such as high fiber vegetables, lean sources of protein and legumes are also good to eat, since generally, you will get tired of eating them before you can overeat!
Based on these studies’ findings (along with years of my own empirical evidence), I have come to the conclusion that you should avoid drinking ANY beverage that contains calories (with the exception of an occasional protein shake, while on an accelerated fat loss program). You heard me right – liquid calories should to be avoided! This includes drinks such as sodas, flavored coffees and fruit juices. Believe it or not, liquid calories are some of the biggest sources of excess and hidden calories.
"Eat your food slowly!” Ah, I can still hear my mom yelling at me from across the kitchen table, in a vain attempt to teach me proper table manners. Her words fell on deaf ears then. But now, I am convinced that she was right all along. So go slow at the table so you can go fast towards your fat loss goals!

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