Fat Loss Power of Food

Fat Loss Power of Food
By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

I know that most readers think that fat loss is all about exercise, but you must know that good nutrition is just as important for fat loss results. Making the correct food choices is your secret weapon in the rush to get the best body for summer. Eating right will help you lose fat and increase your energy dramatically, so that you'll have plenty of stamina for social life, in the gym, and at work.

When I start working with clients, I have everyone enter their food intake on a nutrition tracking website to allow both of us to evaluate their nutrition. Some of the common problems that I see are:

1. Too many treats per day. As one client said, ''I still have one treat per day such as chips, a chocolate bar, a donut, or a rib sub each day, and sometimes I skip breakfast. But other than that, I think it is pretty good.''

If that’s the case, and you are trying to lose fat, then you will have a difficult time. You just can't eat that many treats (read: garbage) and expect to get lean (unless you are 16 years old).

2. Skipping breakfast.

3. Not eating enough fiber.

4. Not eating enough lean protein and low-glycemic, low-fat carbohydrate sources.

5. Not eating much during the day and then eating a huge dinner.

Solutions:

1. Set the tone with the first meal of the day by consuming a lean protein source and high-fiber, low-glycemic carbohydrates. Fiber at this meal will help control blood sugar over the morning and can help modify appetite at subsequent meals.

2. Consume mini-meals to prevent starvation-induced meal binges and energy slumps.

3. Choose snacks that contain protein and fiber, such as almonds.

4. Keep your dinner moderate, and avoid high-calorie feasts.

5. Consume calorie-free beverages, preferably Green Tea or water.

6. Consume at least the recommended amount of fiber through vegetables, fruits, almonds, etc. But start adding fiber to your diet slowly and drink more water.

7. Try to improve your nutrition each day. This will help get you into healthy eating habits. Be consistent with your training and nutrition, and you'll get results.

So here is your challenge. Start with one day and eliminate all of the processed foods from your nutrition plan. I want you to go one full day without foods containing added sugar, hydrogenated oils, or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

If you do this, you'll feel amazing and energized. You will probably have your best workout of the year and you'll probably get more done at work as well.

Replace the junk with lean protein sources, fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains (such as oat-based products), water, and green tea. Make sure to log your food intake on fitday.com and compare it to your regular eating. You'll notice that it is very hard to overeat when you eat only healthy foods. And then next week, try going two days without processed foods.

Keep focusing on one improvement each day and soon you'll have better nutrition habits and fast fat loss to go along with it...not to mention a new body!

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

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2 Cardio Mistakes You're Still Making

2 Cardio Mistakes You're Still Making
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com

The controversies over cardio for fat loss are endless: steady state versus intervals, fed versus fasted, long and easy versus short and intense, and so on. Obviously there is a lot of interest in cardio training and how to do it right. Sadly, most people are still doing 2 things terribly wrong and it’s killing their results…… As best as I can figure, there are two major reasons why people are still mucking up their cardio programs for fat loss.

REASON #1: NOT ENOUGH FOCUS ON TOTAL CALORIES BURNED

Most people aren’t burning enough darn calories.

Why? Well, I guess they are too busy worrying about the “proper” type of exercise (which machine or activity), the mode (steady state or intervals), the “optimal” ratio of intervals, or the “best” duration.

Some people coast along on the treadmill at 2.3 miles per hour or some similar sloth-like pace and they think that just by hitting a TIME goal, such as 45 or 60 minutes, that with “X” duration completed, they are assured to get the results they want.

On the other extreme, we have folks who have found or created some mega-intense, super-duper short training protocol like the “4-minute wonder workout from Japan.” Just because the workout is high in intensity and it is performed in intervals, they too think they are assured to get the results they want.

What’s missing in both cases is the realization that total fat loss over time is a function of total calories burned over time (assuming you don’t blow your diet, of course).

AND…

Total calories burned is a product of INTENSITY times DURATION, not intensity OR duration.

Too much focus on one variable at the exclusion of the other can lead to a less than optimal total calorie burn and disappointing results. And remember, intensity and duration are *variables* not absolutes! (“Variable” means you can change them… even if your “guru” says you can’t!)

When you understand the relationship and interplay between INTENSITY X DURATION you will find a “SWEET SPOT” where the product of those variables produces the maximal calorie burn and maximum fat loss, based on your current health condition and your need for time efficiency.

REASON #2: TOO MUCH FOCUS ON WHAT TYPE OF CALORIES BURNED

As best as I can figure, there is one whopper of a mistake that is still KILLING most people’s cardio programs and that is…

Way too much focus on WHAT you are burning during the workout - fats or carbohydrates - also known as “substrate utilization.”

This idea comes from the notorious “fat burning zone” myth which actually tells people to exercise SLOWER and LESS intensely to burn more fat.

Hold on a minute. Pop quiz. Which workout burns more calories?

(A) A 30 minute leisurely stroll through the park
(B) A 30 minute, sweat-pouring, heart-pounding, lung-burning run?

Like, DUH!

And yet we have trainers, authors and infomercial gurus STILL telling us we have to slow down if we want to burn more fat??? Bizarre.

The reason people still buy it is because the “fat burning zone” myth sounds so plausible because of two little science facts:

- The higher your intensity, the more carbs you burn during the workout
- The lower your intensity, the more fat you burn during the workout

And that's the problem. You should be focusing on total calories and total fat burned during the workout and all day long, not just what type or percentage of fuel you are burning during the workout.

It’s not that fat oxidation doesn’t matter, but what if you have a high percentage of fat oxidation but an extremely low number of calories burned?

If you really want to be in the “fat burn zone,” you could sit on your couch all day long and that will keep you there quite nicely because “couch sitting” is a really low intensity (“fat-burning”) activity.
(Of course, “couch sitting” only burns 37 calories per half hour…)

HERE’S THE FAT-BURNING SOLUTION!

In both cases, the solution to burning more fat is drop dead simple: Focus your attention on how you can burn more TOTAL calories during your workout and all day long.

If you want to burn more fat, burn more calories and you can do that by manipulating ANY of the variables : intensity, duration and also frequency.

If you build your training program around this concept, you will be on the right track almost every time.

BUT WAIT - THERE IS MORE TO IT…

Naturally, we could argue that it’s not quite this simple and that there are hundreds of other reasons why your cardio program might not be working… and I would agree, of course. But on the exercise side, the ideas above should be foremost in your mind.

On the nutrition side, you have to get your act together there too.

For example, many people increase their food intake at the same time as they start a cardio training program thereby putting back in every calorie they burned during the workout! Then some of them have the nerve to say, “SEE, cardio doesn't work!”

Incidentally, this is the exact reason that a few studies show that adding cardio or aerobic training to a diet “did not improve fat loss”: It’s not because the cardio didn’t work, it was because the researchers didn't control for diet and the subjects ate more!!

It should go without saying that nutrition is the foundation on which every fat loss program is built.

Choose the combination of type, intensity, duration and frequency that suits your lifestyle and preferences the best, and WORK THE VARIABLES to get the fat loss results you want, but whichever cardio program you choose, remember that a solid fat burning nutrition program, such as Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is necessary to help you make the most of it.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com


About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

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Subscribe to the monthly KieFit Journal NOW!
CLICK HERE: http://www.kiefit.com/
=====================================

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Do you write articles about health, fitness, sports, nutrition etc? Feel free to send it to us. If your article meets our needs we will be willing to publish it. Email: articles[at]kiefit.com

Enjoy your healthy life!

Heidi

P.S. Tell your friends about http://www.kiefit.com
P.P.S.Please ad me to your twitter, facebook and linkedin.
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