 Let Tom Venuto, our guest blogger, dispense with the 5 worst excuses people use to avoid exercise and dieting. Cheers for the New Year, padre art ++++++++++++++ 5 Excuses That Won't Fly in 2011 By Tom Venuto It’s 2011. Your old excuses for not getting in shape won’t work. As Dr. Evil (Austin Powers) said, ZIP IT! I don’t want to hear them anymore! Read em’, then haul your excuseless butt to the gym! 1. I have no time According to a story in a recent issue of Men’s Health magazine, Barack Obama works out for 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week. Obama doesn’t just play basketball either. Our new president stays fit to lead with cardio and weight lifting. He also says he wishes he could train 90 minutes a day. Have you ever seen what the daily schedule of a U.S. president looks like? If the busiest man in the world can train every day for 45 minutes a day, then what’s your excuse? ZIP IT! You ain’t got one! 2. It’s too expensive Getting in shape certainly is expensive . . . if you keep wasting hundreds of dollars, month after month on worthless “miracle” weight loss pills, internal cleansing gimmicks and “magic” potions that all claim to make you slim. Deceptive advertising and slick marketing for bogus diet aids is more rampant than ever. 2010 was the year of thewu-long tea scam, the acai berry scam, and, of course, the ubiquitous “cleansing” and “detox” gimmicks . Unless you put on your critical thinking cap and learn to investigate before you invest, then you’ll get scammed by 2011’s flavor of the year as well. Your quest for those elusive “6-pack” abs will not only continue to be expensive, you’ll go broke. Walking, jogging, calisthenics and body weight exercises are FREE. If you want to know what’s really expensive, tally up the cost of legitimate expenses like natural food, gym memberships, fitness education, dumbbells and so on, and compare that to your doctor’s bill when you’re sick. 3. No one will support me Experts on social influence say your income will be approximately equal to the average of your 5 closest friends. Not only do I think that’s pretty darn accurate, I also believe that your health is your greatest wealth, and your physical condition will be about equal to the average of your 5 closest friends. It’s a real challenge to stay positive, focused and active when you’re surrounded by critical people and negative influences. However, in 2011, lack of support is no longer a valid excuse. Online social networking is exploding (check out Twitter and Facebook ) and more IN PERSON friendships and associations are being made from an internet connection than ever before.
4. I can’t lose weight because of my genetics The marvels of modern medical and biological research are astonishing. Our top scientists have mapped the human genome! In the past few years, numerous genes linked to obesity have been discovered. However, the obesity epidemic we’re facing today has only developed over the past 50 years and genetic mutations that lead to serious obesity are extremely rare. Genetic predisposition only means that you have a tendency. It’s when the genetics meet lifestyle and environment that the genes express themselves. If you have a family history of heart disease, is it smart to smoke, eat junk, be a stressed-out, type-A maniac and a couch potato? Well of course not, and it’s the same with obesity. If you have a tendency predisposing you towards obesity;
Sorry. That won’t fly in 2011. The latest research says genetics are a factor, but a tendency is not a destiny! 5. I don’t know how The lamest excuse of them all in 2011 is "I don’t know how". NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO DO ANYTHING UNTIL AFTER THEY HAVE ACTUALLY DONE IT! Ponder that for a while. You don’t need to know how at first. To get started, you only need to know WHAT . . . what is the goal? Setting well-formed goals is the master skill of success. Not wishy-washy resolutions that have no resolve behind them, but real goals. In writing. With emotional ooompf! As you continue to affirm, visualize and focus on your goal with clarity, belief, and expectation, your new goal or intention will be received by your subconscious. Once a goal is accepted into your subconscious mind, your brain, being a goal-seeking mechanism, will turn on your attention filters to seek out all the information you will ever need to reach your goal. It will also turn on an infallible navigation system to guide you to your goal like a torpedo to its target. As your brain guides your attention, your direction and your behavior, you will discover that today, in 2011, there is more good information, coaching and instruction available than ever before. And when you’ve activated that “success radar” in your brain by setting goals effectively, it’s not as hard to find honest, accurate and helpful HOW-TO advice as you might think. In fact, you found this web page, so you’re doing pretty good right now, aren’t you? No more excuses. In 2011, remember my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Creed: You can either make excuses or get results, but you can’t do both! Your friend and coach, Tom Venuto Fat Loss Coach About the Author: Tom Venuto is a;
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models 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 clicking here.  Add Comment  The often ill-fated New Year's resolution can be a stumbling block. Our guest blogger, Tom Venuto, has some excellent advice for the New Year and the new decade ahead. Cheers and Gung Hay Fat Choy! padre art +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Goal Setting For The New Decade: Beyond The New Year's Resolution By Tom Venuto When you pause and reflect on the past decade as you look ahead to a new one, it makes you appreciate how short life is, how valuable time is and how quickly the time can pass you by - with nothing to show for it, if you don’t plan otherwise. That’s why the passing of another decade can feel like a wake-up call as much as a fresh start: Looking at the technological wonders that surround us in 2010, I can’t help thinking it feels like science fiction. In fact, modern technology is one of the reasons why some people have succeeded at body transformation while others have failed. I’m still in awe of the web. The satellite navigation system in my car amazes me every time I drive. I can store a library of books in a device that fits in my pocket. It blows my mind that we can speak to each other face to face through the internet live on video. That’s straight from Star Trek! And those are just the everyday little things. The cover story of the January 2010 National Geographic magazine is titled, “Merging Man and Machine” – it’s about bionic limbs. Richard Branson’s company, Virgin Galactic just unveiled spaceship two and is preparing to launch civilians into sub orbital space flights. It’s the greatest time to be alive in all of human history! Unfortunately, today’s modern conveniences have brought a dark side upon us. Rising obesity has paralleled the march of technology. The chair-bound, desk-job, computer, car, elevator, television based society of today is helping to make millions of people fat and lazy. Our current way of life is less than a century old, yet our biology hasn’t changed in tens of thousands of years. Our bodies were designed to move and work, not sit and click. We’ve become spoiled. Complacent. Dependent. And we are paying a price for it. We are fatter than ever before in all of human history. More than two thirds of Americans are now overweight. One third are obese. People are dying because they‘re too fat. Ironically, none of our new technology can solve our body fat problems. There’s no easy way. No pill. No machine. No drug. More knowledge isn’t going to help. We already have most of the answers. We know more about the human body than ever before. But it’s all academic. The problem lies in the doing. You have to do the work – in the gym and in the kitchen. Hard work. We are a quick fix society. It’s partly human nature, but technology is making us more impatient. We can have products delivered to us with one click and even do it from our cell phones. We have instant downloads, movies on demand, and drive through coffee shops. We get our food made and delivered in just minutes while we are sitting in our cars, and it’s still not quick enough. The internet is blazingly fast, but most people will abandon a web page in seconds if it hasn’t loaded. It’s no different with fat loss. We want six pack abs yesterday. Simultaneously fighting the pull of human nature and the convenience of new technology is no easy task. But there is a solution: Future Orientation. The most successful people in the world today are those who have a long term perspective. They plan 5-10 years in advance and beyond. They know how to enjoy and live in the present moment, but they take action and make decisions based on their future vision. The passing of another decade makes you take stock of yourself and your achievements, or lack thereof. “What did I accomplish in the last 10 years? Am I a better person today than I was in 2000?” If you don’t like the answers, then it’s time to finally get serious about your future because the next 10 years are going to fly by even faster than the last 10 as the pace of life and society gets even faster. To succeed in the new decade, think beyond new year’s resolutions. Think beyond the 12 week fitness goal. As you write your goals this year, don’t stop with 3 month or even 1 year goals. Project yourself into the future: 3, 5 and 10 years from now. For each point;
With our ingrained penchant for quick fixes, we often overestimate what we can achieve in the short term and set unrealistic deadlines on our short term goals. But the flip-side is that we often underestimate what we can achieve in the long term, so we set our long term goals too low. Do you realize that people have gone from broke to billionaire in 10 years? In this internet age, some have done it even faster. My challenge for you this year is to start thinking about your body and your life with the same type of creativity that has led to our greatest technological advances: Not the same thoughts as yesterday. Not just positive thoughts. just bigger thoughts. NEW THOUGHTS! Creative thoughts! Inventive thoughts! From new thoughts will spring new goals, new actions and new achievements. Fitness goals and New Year's resolutions should not take over your life, they should enhance every other part of it. So take this opportunity to achieve balance by setting long term goals for every area of your life:
Some people only set short term goals, so they accomplished a few little things, but then stopped, as if a goal were a final destination rather than a stepping stone along a path. Other people set goals but didn’t follow through on them. They forgot that goal setting and goal achieving are two different things. Don’t fall into these traps. If you need coaching in the goal setting process . . . from the daily and weekly baby steps to the long term goals and dreams that span a decade . . . read chapter one of Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle. If you already have it. Now is the time to revisit it. If you don’t own a copy yet, you can get the program here! Most people make resolutions. Some people set well-formed goals. But long term goals are the goals that almost everyone forgets to set. If you didn’t do this exercise 10 years ago, do it now. If you do, I guarantee that in 2013, 2015, 2020, you’ll not only find yourself living at a whole new level, you’ll find yourself living in another world - one of your own creation. Happy New Year! and Happy New Year's Resolution Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle Founder & CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle PS. Remember, goal setting is just the start. Goal ACHIEVING requires a nutrition and training plan. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is the most comprehensive fat loss program of its kind because it teaches you every element necessary to succeed: nutrition, cardio training, weight training and "mental training" (goal setting and mindset). Learn more about the Burn The Fat program at: Learn more about our Burn The Fat Inner Circle community at: About the Author: Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models 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    Is it possible to lose weight and still eat your favorite foods? I think the before and after pictures of Jon Benson, author of Every Other Day Diet, pretty well answers that question. ++++++++++++++++++++ How to Still Eat Your Favorite Foods While Losing Weight What makes a diet stop working? What causes a man or a woman to go on a diet, full of good intentions, only to discard that diet in a few weeks or months?
"Love is the key to staying on a diet, a workout plan . . . anything that requires a change of lifestyle. It may seem obvious, but unless you actually 'love' the diet you are on, there is little chance of you staying on it for very long," Jon continues, "All diets require a change in how you look at food, how you consume food, and even how you think about food. The problem is most diets make too many demands of the dieter right off the bat. They tell you not to eat certain foods, sometimes making that a permanent restriction, while allowing perhaps a day per week to 'overeat' your favorite foods." "This is a disaster waiting to happen . . . and there is a much more balanced, healthy and effective way to diet than this." Ten years ago Jon Benson was a somewhat typical American male:
When Jon decided enough was enough, he, like so many others who are truly ready to change their body and their life, went a bit overboard. "Oh sure, I ate the typical dry chicken, oatmeal with nothing on it, bland rice, and tried to never eat anything I actually enjoyed. Lucky for me I actually love chicken, but most of my diet was composed of what I call my "hate foods", not my love foods -- foods I truly enjoyed eating. But my thinking was just like that of the typical dieter: 'If I eat (fill-in-the-blank favorite food) I'll get fatter and never lose weight!' How wrong I was . . . and after I started and stopped my diet at least ten times during a course of three years I finally got the message." Benson decided to use his nutritional knowledge and his background in body shaping to his advantage. "I started thinking, 'Why not focus on progress rather than perfection?' Again, this seems like common sense, but most dieters are focused on being perfect all the time. So I began applying some old body shaping tricks to my dietary plan. For example, I started cycling my calories. I would eat more on one day, less on another. This kept my metabolism guessing and never allowed my body to hit that dreaded 'no more weight loss' plateau." "Then I decided to push the envelope. I started experimenting with including my favorite foods -- pizza, pasta, and even desserts, all in reasonable quantities -- on my higher-calorie food days. At first it didn't work out too well. But then I used what I now call my "Caveman Principle" which involves strategically eating protein at specific times with a bit less food volume (and this allowed me to stop counting calories too!) and then including my favorite foods on specific days and, most important, specific times. Timing in this case is everything." Jon explains how this timing includes both time of day as well as eating higher-calorie, higher-fat, higher-carbohydrate foods only after exercise. "Specific exercise, done for short periods of time, can set the body up to receive additional calories and carbohydrates more effectively without storing them as body fat. You just have to have to know when to do it. Do it right and it works like a charm." "The end result was a loss of over 70 pounds of fat, and I never gave up eating my favorite foods... not once, but at least three times a week." A study conducted at the University of Phoenix could shed some light on why this approach to dieting may work better than traditional 'calorie-counting' and overly-restrictive foods plans. People given the option of eating more frequently versus three meals a day ended up eating smaller servings of both healthy foods and, on some days, 'junk foods' yet still lost more weight than the three-meals-per-day group. The evidence pointed toward the elevation of the metabolic rate through frequent eating and the psychological ease of being less restrictive regarding foods consumed. "I believe food should be enjoyed, and in my opinion life is way too short to worry about eating perfect all the time. When I crafted this approach into what is now known as "The Every Other Day Diet", it became an overnight smash, and for good reason . . . it gave people a chance to have a life while they are losing weight. Let's face it: Anyone can diet for a day or two, and that's basically what The Every Other Day Diet asks of its users. Of course you cannot go hog wild on your Feed Days (the higher-calories favorite food meals) but just knowing your favorite foods are always just around the corner keeps you on the weight loss track." "The end result is a diet that just about everyone can fall in love with. Loving your diet is the key to dietary success, as I said. And I do happen to love me some pizza! I just use that pizza now to actually help me lose weight rather than gain it, all while staying in good health." Click here to watch a quick video presentation on Jon's "Caveman Principle" of eating and why it works so well for hundreds of thousands of people for fast, sustainable, and enjoyable way to lose weight.   Burn the Fat It's hard to stay in shape over the holidays. We are well into the holiday season and some of us are already feeling the temptations of the table. Today our guest blogger is Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT. Tom has 10 tips to help maintain your diet without losing the spirit of the season. Cheers, padre art +++++++++++ How to Stay on Your Diet and Stay in Shape Over the Holidays Without Turning into a Miserable Scrooge! By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS My mom makes the most amazing Christmas cake in the world; it’s been a tradition in our family for as long as I can remember. First, she mixes up a light, fluffy, vanilla cake mix, pours it into the pans and then pops it in the oven. After it’s been baked, she stacks the cake in two layers with whipped cream spread generously between each layer. She then pours on red and green Jell-O, which gets soaked up inside the cake. Next, whipped cream is smothered all the way around for frosting. And finally, she garnishes it with red and green sprinkles. A few red and green-striped candy canes are stuck in the top as the finishing touch, and off it goes to the refrigerator so it can be served chilled later. Now let me tell you, as a bodybuilder, I have a lot of discipline. But when that moist, delicious, red and green, Jell-O-filled, whipped-cream covered cake is sitting on the table in front of me on December 25th, it takes every ounce of my willpower to keep from calling it a “VERY high carb day” and devouring numerous very large slices. Despite the temptation, I don’t “pig out” nor do I deprive myself. Instead, I’m content with eating my single piece, savoring every mouthwatering bite, all the while repeating my mantra, “Nothing tastes as good as being lean feels.” The next day, on December 26th, I’m on the bike or Stairmaster at the crack of dawn, followed by six perfect meals of lean protein and complex carbohydrate - just like every other day of the year. A week later, on December 31st, I usually go out for a nice dinner (very naughty food, I must admit), and then we toast champagne to the New Year at midnight. I’m in bed at a reasonable hour shortly thereafter. Unless it’s a scheduled day of rest on New Years day, I’m not groggy and hung over like many of my friends are. I’m in the gym squatting, bench pressing, curling, or “stairmastering” just like I usually am. And here’s the point: You can and should enjoy the holidays. You can enjoy being with family and going out with friends. You can go to holiday parties and have fun. You can enjoy a few “naughty” meals. You can have a piece of cake and a glass or two of champagne. There’s no reason why you can’t enjoy yourself AND stay healthy, lean and fit through the holidays. All it takes is some planning, some goal-setting and little dose of old-fashioned discipline. I’d like to share with you 10 ways that you can follow your diet and stay in great shape over the holidays without turning into a “miserable Scrooge.” If you follow this advice, then you’ll be one of the proud few with a New Year’s resolution to be the best you’ve ever been in the new year to come - instead of one of the guilt-ridden many who must resolve to reclaim what they lost over the year that’s just passed them by. 1. Expect to stay on your program over the holidays “Fail to plan and you plan to fail” is a time worn and cliché statement, but it’s still some of the best success advice you will ever hear. Not only do most people fail to plan, they consciously plan to fail over the holidays. Most people expect to “blow” their diet and skip workouts over the holidays. They expect to eat more, to exercise less and to gain weight. As a result, they don’t even make the effort. Instead of taking control, they resign themselves to maintenance at best, or back-sliding at worst. This negative expectancy leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. By the first week of January, they’re in the worst shape they’ve been in for a year and they frantically make New Year’s resolutions to shed the excess fat they’ve gained. You can avoid this trap by planning to succeed during the holidays:
2. Plan all your workouts in advance You know your schedule is going to get hectic over the holidays. You’ll be cooking, shopping, wrapping gifts, sending cards, going to parties, traveling, visiting family, and so on. To stay on your training and nutrition regimen is definitely going to take some sound time management skills. Plan your schedule in advance. Anticipate what’s coming up. Write it down. Put it on your calendar. By doing so, you won’t be caught unprepared. Use a schedule book or monthly calendar and “make appointments” for ALL your workouts for the entire holiday season. Then, post a copy where you will be forced to look at it every day. This is a powerful exercise that will keep you focused and force you to think about and prepare for each upcoming workout. If you try to “wing it” and squeeze in your workouts and meals whenever you have time left over, you’ll find that there never is any time left over! Somehow your daily activities always seem to “expand” to fill the hours in every day. So schedule your workouts and meal times in your calendar just like you would any other appointment or event. Once you’ve done that, stick to your schedule religiously. 3. Set some compelling training and fitness goals over the holiday period Don’t wait until January 1st to set your goals just because you think it will be harder to achieve them over the holidays. On the contrary, studies on personal achievement have shown that you’ll usually reach 80% of the goals you put onto paper. The problem is that few people set any goals at all, and fewer still set them during the holidays. Why wait? Why not do it now? Set some big goals that you can start working on during the holidays:
4. Give yourself permission to have “free meals” - and schedule them in A planned “free meal” or “re-feeding day” helps you to stay on your program better in the long run. If you’re too strict all the time, you’re setting yourself up for cravings and binge eating. A few free meals per week will have very little effect on your physique. Also, if you’ve been on a strict, low carb and/or low calorie regimen for a long time, a full day of maintenance level calories might actually be good for you! It will boost your metabolic rate and give your body the signal that you’re not starving and that it’s ok to keep burning a lot of calories. Over the holidays, schedule your dinners and parties so they become your “free meals.” Then, for the rest of your meals, be steadfast! Just the fact that you know you have free meals coming up will relieve the pressure of staying on a strict diet for a long time. Also, when you do have your free meal – ENJOY IT! If you’re going to eat it and feel guilty, then don’t have it at all. If you’ve stayed with the program all week long, then when your free meal rolls around, you deserve it! 5. If you fall off the wagon, get right back on it So you had about a dozen too many of those Christmas cookies did you? Don’t worry; because you have free meals built into your plan, you shouldn’t let guilt immobilize you. Even if you fall completely off the wagon, don’t beat yourself up. All you have to do is get right back on your program without missing another beat. Too many people mess up once and then think their entire diet is ruined. They feel as if everything they’ve done prior to that day was wasted and there’s no sense going on. Or even worse, they rationalize to themselves, “Well, I already cheated, so it doesn’t matter now, I might as well keep pigging out.” That’s nonsense. If you threw in the towel every time you didn’t score 100% on your diet, most people would never get through more than a few days on any structured program. Just because you slip up once doesn’t mean you should quit! You’re only human. Don’t let one small slip keep you derailed. Firmly plant your wheels back on the tracks and start rolling again. 6. Maintain your consistent eating schedule If there’s one thing that all people who successfully get lean and stay lean have in common, it’s consistency. Without it, you never get any momentum going. It’s like taking two steps forward, only to take three steps back. Many people allow the busy holidays to throw them off their regular eating schedule. They completely veer off their usual meal frequency, or they start eating foods they would normally never eat (because “it’s there”). Once you have a habit or pattern going, it’s fairly easy to keep it going. But once you lose momentum, it’s very difficult to get it going again because you must overcome inertia all over again. (An object at rest tends to stay at rest!) On the major holidays, when there’s a big dinner scheduled, many people think that skipping their morning and afternoon meals to “save room” for the big one later is a good idea. It’s not. This is actually a good way to invite a binge that could set your back for days. Don’t lose your consistency or your momentum. Continue with your pattern of eating small, frequent meals all year round. All you have to do is count your holiday dinners as one of your regular meals and keep them small. 7. Control your portion sizes You can have your cake and eat it too – you just can’t eat the whole thing! One of the most important rules to remember this holiday season is the law of energy balance, which states: To lose body fat, you must consume fewer calories than you burn up each day. There are two corollaries to the law of energy balance:
8. Don’t buy into the low standards and expectations of others Keep your standards high, but don’t expect other people’s standards to be as high as yours. Remember that most people have already planned in advance to fail at fitness over the holidays. You’ve decided to stay strong (haven’t you?). Don’t let their negative influence drag you down. When you’ve reached your pre-ordained drink limit, say “When” and switch to water or a non alcoholic, non caloric beverage. When they offer you seconds on dessert, politely say, “No thank you, it was absolutely delicious, but I’m full, I can’t eat another bite.” And when the wee hours of the morning start to roll around, and your friends are egging you on to keep partying, politely tell them you need your sleep. Tomorrow is a work out day. If they’re really your friends, they’ll understand. 9. Make the best choices possible in every situation You know those tables you see at holiday parties that are covered with yards of chips, dips, pretzels, cookies, salami, candies, punch, liquor, and a seemingly endless assortment of other goodies? Well, did you also notice that there is usually a tray full of carrot sticks, cauliflower, celery and other healthy snacks too? No matter where you are, you always have choices. Sometimes you have to choose between bad and worse. Other times you can choose between good and better. But always make the best choice possible based on whatever your options are. If nothing else, you can choose to eat a small portion of something “bad” rather than a huge portion, thereby obeying the law of calorie balance. Chances are good that there’s probably something healthy on the menu at every holiday gathering. As you know, lean proteins and fibrous carbs are a great for getting lean, so fill up on the turkey breast, try to get a vegetable in there, and go easy on the desserts. 10. If you drink, enjoy alcohol in moderation If you enjoy having a few drinks on special occasions, then go ahead and have a drink or two. But if you’re serious about your fitness goals, then drink infrequently and in moderation. Alcohol puts fat oxidation on hold while providing a large amount of calories. When there’s alcohol in your bloodstream, you’re not in fat burning mode. I’ve never met anyone who was truly serious about fat loss or bodybuilding who was a heavy drinker. Alcohol and muscles just don’t mix. The impact goes beyond added body fat; your energy levels and workouts can be affected for days after a night of heavy drinking. A glass of wine may have health benefits, but there’s never any reason or excuse for binge drinking or getting drunk. So go ahead and toast to the New Year, but know when to say when. In conclusion, there’s no reason to let your exercise and nutrition program spoil your holidays, but there’s also no reason to let your holidays spoil your exercise and nutrition program! Put these 10 tips to stay in shape over the holidays into practice and you can start losing fat today, not next year. Train hard and expect success, Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS Fat Loss Coach About the Author: Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using methods of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting us here.  Burn the Fat Inner Circle Surround yourself with one of the largest diet support groups to help motivate you to succeed with your diet. Over 16,000 strong and growing! Join this group of like-minded and sympathetic people on the journey to weight loss, fitness and health. "Ask the Fat Loss Guru" 12/10/2010
 Burn the Fat - Fat Loss mini course We are lucky to have a Q & A session with the 'Fat Loss Guru', Tom Venuto. Tom is a nutritional expert, trainer and more (see his bio below). He is answering some direct questions on this topic, "How Do Bodybuilders And Fitness Models Get So Lean?" Cheers, padre art +++++++++++++++ QUESTION: "Tom, on your website you wrote: 'Who better to model than bodybuilders and fitness competitors? No athletes in the world get as lean as quickly as bodybuilders and fitness competitors. The transformations they undergo in 12 weeks prior to competition would boggle your mind! Only ultra-endurance athletes come close in terms of low body fat levels, but endurance athletes like triathaletes and marathoners often get lean at the expense of chewing up much of their lean muscle." There seems to be a contradiction unless I'm missing something. Why do bodybuilders and fitness competitors have to go through a 12 week 'transformation' prior to every event instead of staying 'lean and mean' all the time? If they practice the secrets exposed in your book, shouldn't be staying in great shape all the time instead of having to work at losing fat prior to every competitive event?" ANSWER: Thanks for your question. There's a logical explanation for why bodybuilders and other physique athletes (fitness and figure competitors), don't remain completely ripped all year round, and it's the very reason they are able to get so ripped on the day of a contest . . . You can't hold a peak forever or it's not a "peak", right? What is the definition of a peak? It's a high point surrounded by two lower points isn't it? Therefore, any shape you can stay in all year round is NOT your "peak" condition. The intelligent approach to nutrition and training (which almost all bodybuilders and fitness/figure competitors use), is to train and diet in a seasonal or cyclical fashion and build up to a peak, then ease off to a maintenance or growth phase. I am NOT talking about bulking up and getting fat and out of shape every year, then dieting it all off every year. What I'm talking about is going from good shape to great shape, then easing back off to good shape . . . but never getting "out of shape." Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Here's an example: I have no intentions whatsoever of walking around 365 days a year at 4% body fat like I appear in the photo on my website. Truth be told, that is day of contest condition. Off-season (when I'm not competing), my body fat is usually between 8 - 10%. Mind you, that's very lean and still single digit body fat. I don't stray too far from competition shape, but I don't maintain contest shape all the time. It takes me about 10-12 weeks or so to gradually drop from 9% to 3.5%-4.0% body fat to "peak" for competition with NO loss of lean body mass, using the same techniques I reveal in my e-book. It would be almost impossible to maintain 4% body fat, and even if I could, why would I want to? For the few weeks prior to competition I'm so depleted, ripped, and even "drawn" in the face, that complete strangers walk up and offer to feed me. Okay, so I'm just kidding about that, but let's just say being "being ripped to shreds" isn't a desirable condition to maintain because it takes such a monumental effort to stay there. It's probably not even healthy to try forcing yourself to hold extreme low body fat. Unless you're a natural "ectomorph" (skinny, fast metabolism body type), your body will fight you and you'll always be hungry. Not only that, anabolic hormones may drop and sometimes your immune system is affected as well (and I hate to say this, but sometimes - for some people - even the, uh . . . "reproductive functions" . . . decline a bit when you're that lean). Hey, I'm just being honest. It's just not "normal" to walk around all the time with literally NO subcutaneous body fat. Instead of attempting to hold the peak, I cycle back into a less demanding off-season program and avoid creeping beyond 9.9% body fat. Some years I've stayed leaner - like 6-7%, (which takes effort), especially when I knew I would be photographed, but I don't let my body fat go over 10%. That’s "the line" I draw - it's like a personal "rule" for me. This practice isn't just restricted to bodybuilders. Athletes in all sports use periodization to build themselves up to their best shape for competition. Is a pro football player in the same condition in March-April as he is in August-September? Probably not. Many show up fat and out of shape (relatively speaking) for training camp, others just need fine tuning, but none are in peak form . . . that's why they have training camp!!! There's another reason you wouldn't want to maintain a "ripped to shreds" physique all year round - you'd have to be dieting (calorie restricted) all the time. And this is one of the reasons that 95% of people can't lose weight and keep it off - they are CHRONIC dieters . . . always on some type of diet. Know anyone like that? You can't stay on restricted low calories indefinitely. Sooner or later your metabolism slows down and you plateau as your body adapts to the chronically lowered food intake and reduced body weight. But if you diet for fat loss and push incredibly hard for 3 months, then ease off for a while and eat a little more (healthy food, not "pigging out"), your metabolic rate is re-stimulated. In a few weeks or months, you can return to another fat loss phase and reach an even lower body fat level, until you finally reach the point that's your happy maintenance level for life - a level that is healthy and realistic - as well as visually appealing. That's how we physique athletes do it . . . Bodybuilders have discovered a methodology for losing fat that's so effective, it puts them in complete control of their body composition. They've mastered this area of their lives and will never have to worry about it again. If they ever "slip" and fall off the wagon like all humans do at times . . . no problem! They know how to get back into shape fast. Bodybuilders have the tools and knowledge to hold a low body fat all year round(such as 9% for men, or about 15% for women), and then at a whim, to reach a temporary "peak" of extremely low body fat for the purpose of competition. Maybe most important of all, they have the power and control to slowly ease back from peak shape into maintenance, and not balloon up and yo-yo like most conventional dieters. What if you had the power to stay lean all year round, and then get super lean when summer rolled around, or when you took your vacation to the Caribbean, or when your wedding date was coming up? Wouldn't you like to be in control of your body like that? Isn't that the same thing that bodybuilders and fitness/figure competitors do, only on a more practical, real-world level? So even if you have no intention of ever being a bodybuilder, don't you agree that there's something of value everyone could learn from physique athletes? Don't model yourself after the huge crowd of "losers" who gobble diet pills, buy exercise gimmicks and suffer through starvation diets like automatons, only to gain back everything they lost! Instead, learn from the leanest athletes on Earth - natural bodybuilders and fitness competitors . . . These physique athletes get as ripped as they want to be, exactly when they want to, simply by manipulating their diets in a cyclical fashion between pre-contest "cutting" programs and off season "maintenance" or "muscle growth" programs. Even if you have no desire to ever compete, try this seasonal fat loss "peaking" approach yourself and you'll see that it can work as well for you as it does for elite bodybuilders. If you're interested in learning even more secrets of bodybuilders and fitness models, visit the Burn The Fat website: Train hard and expect success, Tom Venuto, Fat loss coach  Tom Venuto About the Author: Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models 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 us:  The Burn the Fat Inner Circle opened in 2006, the World's Premier Fat Loss Membership Website . . . the perfect companion resource to Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is the #1 best selling diet and fitness ebook in the history of the Internet. In fact, it's one of the best selling e-books on ANY subject in the history of the Internet. Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle Inner Circle is a fat loss support community and much, much more. Over 16,000 members and growing.  Fat Loss Workout Program For two days only, December 7 to December 9, Craig Ballantyne is offering a fat loss workout program special. Trim-up for the holiday season. The offer includes:
 Fat Loss Workouts Does Cold Weather Make You Store Body Fat? 12/05/2010
 Burn the Fat Is there a relationship between cold weather and body fat? Our guest blogger, best-selling author Tom Venuto, has some insights for us. Cheers, padre art +++++++++++++++++ By: Tom Venuto Do you get fatter in the cold weather? It’s a good question right now, considering that this year’s farmer’s almanac is predicting a frigid winter and true to the prediction, the Huffington Post just ran a story, “Cold Temperatures Greet The New Year.” It’s FREEZING here in New Jersey and it’s not like this is the Yukon territory. Some of my friends up in the great white yonder think that temps in the 20’s are balmy. Yeah right. With the wind chill, even my bones had goose bumps today. I can’t even fathom the sub zero stuff those guys live in. Adding insult, my friends in LA and South Florida have been more than happy to share their local January weather reports with me. 80 degrees and sunny. Thanks guys –you suck. Back to the question. I just got an email from a burn the fat reader who asked, “Tom, is there any evidence that during cold winter weather it gets harder to lose body fat? For me, it seems easier to drop fat during the hot weather.” Yes, there is. First there’s the psychological explanation: in warm climates, people are wearing less clothes and enjoying the outdoors and people want to look good when they’re exposing more flesh! In the cold, you’re covered up, so there’s less self-consciousness and no public accountability. Therefore, most people tend to stay on a diet more diligently and train harder when summer rolls around. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) has been studied at length by psychologists. Often more than just the “winter blues” but an actual type of depression, SAD occurs during the short days and long nights of winter and fall, when there’s less sunlight and colder temperatures. Symptoms include;
Because of their tendency for fall and winter weight gain, many people have suspected that cold temperatures influence weight gain on a metabolic level, not just eating more. Exposure to cold temperatures can cause a shivering thermogenesis, which means there’s an increase in metabolism to produce more heat (heat production = calories burned). However, if you just got the bright idea of turning off the heat in your house, or going for a swim in the cold surf every day to “burn more fat”, I wouldn’t recommend it. Deliberate exposure to the cold, either cold air or cold water doesn’t pan out into real world fat loss results, even though there are actually “fat loss gurus” who recommend it. Here’s why: If your body uses some energy for shivering or heat production, it can compensate later for that energy loss by increasing your appetite. Not only that, research at the hyperbaric environmental adaptation program at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland reported that, “The combination of exercise and cold exposure does NOT act to enhance metabolism of fats . . . Cold-induced vasoconstriction of peripheral adipose tissue may account, in part, for the decrease in lipid mobilization.” It’s just not practical to freeze your butt off in an attempt to speed up your metabolism a tiny little bit, so your fat loss scheme wouldn’t last long if you tried. A great example of how cold temperatures affect energy balance is in the case of swimming. For years, people thought swimming actually made you fat. There were all kinds of theories, like, “it makes you retain a layer of fat for insulation, like seals.” Actually, the most recent research shows that swimming is a perfectly good fat burning exercise, except for one thing: Swimming, especially in cold water, increases appetite dramatically. The seasons affect your activity levels too. Pedometer research published in the journal Medicine and Science and Sports And Exercise uncovered a huge difference in the number of steps taken between the summer and winter:
You have to keep up with your training and nutrition program in the winter, or else. (Need a program? Here’s the most popular and effective one available) Although studies have found that seasonal weight gain is usually very small, it’s the type of slow weight creep that goes unnoticed. Over a period of 10, 15 or 20 years, it’s enough to accumulate into becoming overweight or obese. Thus many men and women wake up one morning at age 40 or 45, look in the mirror and ask themselves, “How did I get so heavy?” Answer: just a pound or two a year, after each winter season, left unchecked. To stay lean all year round, you have to remain alert about increases in your appetite, body fat and decreases in your activity. This is a YEAR-ROUND LIFESTYLE! Stay active, stay diligent about nutrition, stay accountable, and if you start to experience weight gain, nip it in the bud - fast! Train hard and expect success, Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle Founder & CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle  About the Author: Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models, Fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) Bodybuilder and Freelance writer. Burn the Fat 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 here:  Burn the Fat Inner Circle is a support group for anyone that wants healthy weight loss. It's been proven that losing weight with any diet is more likely to succeed when the dieter has a support group of like minded individuals. With a membership 16,000 strong (and growing) the Inner Circle offers a group of helpful people either in the same place you are or successfully advancing in their weight loss program.  "FREE Fat Loss Course and Book!" 12/03/2010
Wow! Fat Loss for Free! This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time. Fitness pro Jon Benson released a bombshell last week on the fat-burning world. He is giving away a book's worth of material in his FREE 7-Day Personal Fat Loss Certification Course. FREE . . . and get this: Anyone who completes the course gets his book "The Radical Fat loss Blueprint" FREE as well. So there's nothing to buy at all . . . in fact you get tons of FREE stuff AND you can even earn bucks in the program. It's just too cool for words. So go see it for yourself: Here is a short review: The Course is for anyone who wants to become their own "personal" fat loss expert. It is complete with a quiz each day and more material than most people sell in a book . . . and it's totally FREE. After the course, you get his "Radical Fat loss Blueprint" FREE too. This is all about how he and a group of "guinea pigs" experimented with natural techniques and got up to 21 lbs of unwanted body fat off in just 21 days. The average was 17.5, but some people got as much as 30 lbs off. All with little to no muscle lost. It then outlines the 'exact' workout and supplement "feeding" schedule Jon still uses to get into top shape in 21 days. This is down to the 'hour' . . . and it includes home workouts or gym workouts. Your fat loss choice. This is his gift to my readers, and I am thrilled to share it with you. Enjoy the course!  Fit Over 40 |   Enhance the effectiveness of your diet with a Fat Loss Support Community over 16,000 member strong.
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 Holiday Recipes Collection
Authorpadre art is author, fitness enthusiast and lives the Mediterranean lifestyle (diet).  ArchivesMarch 2011  CategoriesAll   Get Off the Couch with Joan
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