I Want That Perfect Body

Yesterday, my friend Michael turned 35 so
to celebrate and do something a bit different,
six of us all took surf lessons together.

None of us have ever been surfing before, but
I've gotta tell ya - it was a blast. I was able
to get up for a few seconds at a time and I'll
definitely get back on it again.

One thing I noticed during our day of surfing,
was every one of the surf instructors had
really lean, athletic builds.

I talked to them about their workouts.

All the exercise they do is bodyweight training.
That's it. No weights at all.

They looked 20 times healthier than any of
the people you see in the gyms grunting
for 2 hours throwing around heavy iron.

Ripped abs. Not overly muscular.

Again, they just looked HEALTHIER.

I still enjoy lifting, but I've definitely
come full circle to more "calisthenics" type
programs. Resistance usually comes from
dumbbells, medicine balls and kettlebells.

So look to incorporate more bodyweight into
your daily routines.


P.S You might want to check out this DVD with 10 fastest workouts
featuring bodyweight only routines.

3500 Calories To Lose A Pound - Is This Formula All Wrong

Most fitness conscious people have heard that there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so if you create a deficit of 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound of weight. If you create a deficit of 7000 calories in a week, you lose two pounds, and so on. Right? Well, not so fast…

Dr. Kevin Hall, an investigator at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda has done some interesting research about the mechanisms regulating human body weight. He recently published a new paper in the International Journal of Obesity that throws a wrench in works of the “3500 calories to lose a pound” idea.

Some of the equations in his paper made my head hurt, but despite the complex math he used to come to his conclusions, his article clearly prompts the question, "3500 calories to lose a pound of WHAT?" His paper also contained a lot of simple and practical tips you can use to properly balance your caloric intake with output, fine tune your calorie deficit and help you retain more muscle when you diet.

Below, I’ve distilled some of the information into a simple bullet-point summary that any non-scientist can understand. Then I wrap up with my interpretation of how you can apply this data in your own fat loss program:

Calculating the calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit

• 3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course).


• But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification.


• The amount of lean body mass lost is based on initial body fat level and size of the calorie deficit


• Lean people tend to lose more lean body mass and retain more fat.


• Fat people tend to lose more body fat and retain more lean tissue (revealing why obese people can tolerate aggressive low calorie diets better than already lean people)


• Very aggressive low calorie diets tend to erode lean body mass to a greater degree than more conservative diets.


• whether the weight loss is lean or fat gives you the real answer of what is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss


• The metabolizable energy in fat is different than the metabolizable energy in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories. A pound of muscle yields about 600 calories.


• If you lose lean body mass, then you lose more weight than if you lose fat.


• If you create a 3500 calorie deficit in one week and you lose 100% body fat, you will lose one pound.


• But if you create a 3500 calorie weekly deficit and as a result of that deficit, lose 100% muscle, you would lose almost 6 pounds of body weight! (of course, if you manage to lose 100% muscle, you will be forced to wear the Dieter’s Dunce cap)


• If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you may need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person


• Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight


• Weight loss typically slows down over time for a prescribed constant diet (the “plateau”). This is either due to the decreased metabolism mentioned above, or a relaxing of the diet compliance, or both (most people just can’t hack aggressive calorie reductions for long)


• Progressive resistance training and or high protein diets can modify the proportion of weight lost from body fat versus lean tissue (which is why weight training and sufficient protein while on calorie restricted diets are absolute musts!)
  

So, based on this info, should you throw out the old calorie formulas?

Well, not necessarily. You can still use the standard calorie formulas to figure out how much you should eat, and you can use a 500-1000 calorie per day deficit (below maintenance) as a generic guideline to figure where to set your calories to lose one or two pounds per week respectively (at least that works “on paper” anyway).

Even better however, you could use this info to fine tune your caloric deficit using a percentage method and also base your deficit on your starting body fat level, to get a much more personalized and effective approach:

1. 15-20% below maintenance calories = conservative deficit


2. 20-25% below maintenance calories = moderate deficit


3. 25-30% below maintenance calories = aggressive deficit


4. 31-40% below maintenance calories = very aggressive deficit (risky)


5. 50%+ below maintenance calories = semi starvation/starvation (potentially dangerous and unhealthy)

(Note: According to exercise physiologists Katch & Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2000-2100 calories per day and the average male about 2700-2900 calories per day)

Discover the best weight loss secrets Now.

2 Ways to Start Burning fat Quickly

1. Start Exercising first thing in the morning

As soon as you wake up in the morning workout for at least 30min to an hour. Studies show that working out in the morning has been shown to burn up to 3x as more fat as opposed to working out at any other time during the day. Here’s Why:

During the day your body’s main source of energy is the carbohydrates that you get from eating your meals. As you sleep at night for 6+ hours your body uses up all those carbohydrates as energy for various bodily functions that go on even while you sleep. When you wake up in the morning your body doesn’t have any carbohydrates as energy to use and it will look to burn body fat instead for energy.

For you to take advantage of this morning fat burning opportunity you have to exercise first thing in the morning. Don’t eat breakfast because if you do you’ll just give your body some carbohydrates as a source of energy instead of the body fat that you want to burn for energy.

Another great thing about working out first thing in the morning is that your metabolism gets revved up after your morning workout. Morning workouts keep your metabolism elevated throughout the day. An elevated metabolism throughout the day only means that you’ll burn more calories and lose more weight. If you workout at night you may still burn fat while you workout but as soon as you go to sleep your metabolism will slow down and you’ll miss out on all the extra fat that you can burn during the day if you had exercised in the morning. When you sleep your metabolic rate is always at its slowest.

Other reasons why its good to exercise first thing in the morning is that you get the workout out of the way, and working out in the morning will also reduce your level of stress throughout the day.

Advanced Tip: Want to burn even more fat? Add another workout to your daily routine 4-6 hours after your morning workout. Keep your already high metabolism higher by adding a 2nd workout during the day. If you're seriously thinking about adding a 2nd workout to your daily routine then try to do your cardio workouts in the morning. Mostly fat calories are burned doing cardio at a moderate intensities. Make your 2nd workout of the day a workout with weights. Mostly carbohydrate is burned doing weight-training workouts. The muscle that you build from weight training will also help you burn fat. 1lb of Muscle burns 50 calories a day or 1lb of fat every 70 days. Not only will you be burning more calories, you’ll look better – whatever your weight is.

2. Eat Breakfast

Another way to keep your metabolism revved up all day long is to eat breakfast. After you workout in the morning as discussed earlier, just have breakfast and you’ll give your body the perfect 1-2 combination to jump start your metabolism.

Eating breakfast in the morning is what gets your metabolism started. Don’t skip breakfast and wait until mid-morning or afternoon to eat, your metabolism will run slower causing you not burn any extra fat.

Think about this way-Your metabolism is a fireplace that’ll burn fat all day long for you if you operate it correctly. When you eat breakfast you are basically throwing a log onto that fireplace to get it started burning fat.

Eating breakfast will help stop those cravings you may have later on in the day and along with working out in the morning, eating breakfast will also keep you energized throughout the day and lower stress levels.

Advanced Tip: Instead of eating only 2 more meals during the day like lunch & dinner, try to eat 4-5 more small mini-meals spaced 2-3 hours apart during the day. Remember the fireplace? By eating these mini-meals you'll be throwing just the right amount of "wood" on the fireplace to keep your metabolism burning calories throughout the day. Don't shut down your metabolism by eating big lunches or dinners, keep that metabolism of yours burning fat all day long.

Morning Checklist

1. Workout for at least 30min after waking up in the morning


2. Eat a healthy breakfast


3. Burn fat & lose more weight during the day

Use these 2 tips to reveal that six-pack, fit into that dress for an upcoming event like a wedding or reunion, or to impress that special someone. Whatever your fitness goal is these 2 tips above will surely help you reach them.

5 Surefire Tips To Best Weight Loss Success

There are way too many weight loss programs out there proving that they are the best in the weight loss industry. Their tactic: strictly follow my weight loss program, and I will guarantee that you will be able to loss at least 5 pounds in 1 week or less. In my opinion, I believe that there are definitely some good weight loss programs out there that have been proven and some are just scam. So I decide to do a study on weight loss programs and I discovered that there are five basic principles that you needs to be aware to have success in weight loss programs. So let me show you how you can use these five surefire tips for best weight loss success.

The first and most important key weight loss determinant is metabolism. You need to keep in mind that your metabolic rate is what will determine how much weight you are capable of losing within a period of time. The higher your metabolic rate, the more weight you can lose. You can even be losing weight while you are at rest with a higher metabolic rate. Thus, the vice versa is true too. If you are suffering from a lower metabolic rate, you can increase your metabolism by taking weight loss supplements and pills as part of your diet.

For the second tip, you must remember that weight loss is not instant. It is not impossible, it is possible but it takes time. You should not be rushing your weight loss program, like doing silly things like starving yourself for a week, so that you can fit into your old pair of jeans or that bikinis set you wanted to wear to the beach this weekend! That’s just not the way to go. If your body enters into a starvation mode, you will burn fats slower. You could end up gaining more weight instead!

The third tip is to realize some time you got to work on yourself harder than Joe next door during your weight loss routine if you are suffering from hereditary obesity. This mean that you are not overweight because of your habits or that you overeat at times, but because it runs in your family. i.e. your mum is overweight and your dad is overweight. Just keep in mind that it is possible to loss weight, but you need to have the discipline to work harder.

The fourth tip focus on your discipline. You got to be exercising on a consistent basis, there is no excuse. You got to start working on those extra pounds that have been bothering you for a long time. The trick is to exercise regularly, and not missed a single workout session. In addition, you got to be flexible, not everyone is able to cope with high intensity exercises such as cardio and resistance training. If that’s the case, start off with aerobics. It is less intensive and you can burn much fat as cardio too! If you are experiencing difficulty with aerobics too, at least you need to walk regularly.

The fifth and last tip is planning your daily meals with an intention to include low fat foods only. I can’t further elaborate that what you eat is important. Do not give in to your negative thoughts of weight loss, by eating those fatty and junk foods. It will not do you anything good, instead it could make things worse for you. Be smart and safe, stick to low fat foods.

Right, that’s all for the five surefire tips for best weight loss success. I hope that they will be able to assist you on your next weight loss program.