 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  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.   Here is part 2 of the healthy holiday eating tips from author and fat loss coach, Tom Venuto. Cheers, padre art ++++++++++++++++++ By Tom Venuto CSCS, NSCA-CPT Fat Loss Coach It's lunchtime, and you're trying to decide what to make today. Normally, you would have your regular chicken salad with mixed nuts, but today is different. You're going to a party in the evening, and even though you're not quite sure what to expect, you know there will be a ton of food in an atmosphere of very little restraint. You decide that it's probably best to eat a lighter lunch than usual, to prepare for the evening calorie-surge. This is commonly known as “banking calories” which is analogous to saving calories like money because you’re going to consume more later. I usually do not recommend this. Here’s why: If you skip meals earlier in the day to “prepare” (bank calories) for a big feast at night, you are thinking only in terms of calories, but skipping meals is also depriving yourself of protein (amino acids), carbohydrates, essential fats, vitamins, minerals and other valuable nutrients that come from healthy food, as well as the small frequent meals which help control your appetite, stabilize your blood sugar and provide a steady flow of amino acids to your muscles. Skipping breakfast is especially detrimental. Not only that, but eating less early in the day in anticipation of overeating later in the day is much more likely to increase your appetite, causing you to binge or eat even MORE than you thought you would at night when the big meal does arrive. In fact, eating healthy, high fiber and lean protein food, as usual, earlier in the day is likely to make you LESS hungry for the holiday party meal and you’ll be more likely to eat only a harmlessly small amount of “party” foods. I don't like the concept of “banking calories” if it means skipping meals or if it’s used as justification for binge eating. Even if it worked the way you wanted it to, the starving and binge eating pattern may cause more damage than an occasional oversize meal, even if only on a psychological level. Some dietitians might even argue that this kind of behavior borders on disordered eating. A better approach is to stay on your regular menu of healthy foods and small meals through the entire day - business as usual - and then go ahead and enjoy yourself at your party by treating yourself to a SMALL amount of “BAD” food. This is supported by the 2nd Corollary of the law of calorie balance: “Small amounts of ANYTHING - even junk food- will probably not be stored as fat as long as you are in a calorie deficit where you are eating fewer calories than you burn.” It should be a big relief for you to know that when you’re at a party, a banquet, dining out or eating at a relative’s house for a special occasion, you can eat whatever you want with little or no ill effect on body composition, as long as you respect the law of calorie balance ans as long as it is done infrequently. However, you CANNOT starve and binge and expect not to reap negative consequences. If you sincerely want to burn fat and be healthy, then you have to have the discipline to stick with your nutrition plan consistently, control your portion sizes and enjoy healthy holiday eating. Train hard and expect success, Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT Fat Loss Coach To learn more about burning fat naturally in a healthy, sensible way, then be sure to take a look at Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle 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:   Today we start a two part series on healthy holiday eating by Tom Venuto. Tom 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" Happy Holidays, padre +++++++++++++++++++ We've all been at the holiday get-togethers, and have quickly devoured something devilishly delicious with little thought. Some feel little shame for eating a cake or drinking half the bowl of punch, but others find themselves feeling guilty after-wards and can't help but think, "oops, I shouldn't have eaten that." I have to admit I do get a little chuckle out of the “accidental” part! Do you ever really “accidentally” eat anything? I think we are all responsible for everything we eat and how much we eat and until you consciously realize and accept this, and take the time to do some proactive meal planning, you will probably continue to have lots of “overeating accidents!” After you overindulge, I definitely do NOT recommend skipping your next meal or skipping meals the next day to make up for it. I usually don’t even recommend cutting back either, although there may be exceptions where you could manipulate your meal size or macro-nutrient composition. I generally recommend returning immediately to your “regularly scheduled meal programming,” because this continues to encourage the maintenance of positive habits such as eating 5-6 small meals every day. I do suppose whether you cut back could depend on whether you’ve been on low calories a long time, how lean you were already, and on whether you were in a caloric deficit already. If you were in a calorie deficit for the day, then the extra calories might only bring you up to maintenance, not “over” your daily limit, which might not be as damaging as if you were in a calorie surplus. If you were already very lean or had been dieting strictly for a long time (as in a bodybuilder coming off a competition), a large meal or entire high calorie day might not have any negative effect either. Your metabolism has a way of slowing down if you keep your calories too low 100% of the time. With occasional (planned) higher calorie days, you’d be using the BURN THE FAT “zig-zag” or “cycling” principle, so eating more in this context can be a positive thing. (Note: You can learn more about this technique in the BURN THE FAT program). However, there’s a big difference between a planned “cheat meal” or a planned high carb, clean food “re-feed” day and a binge on junk food. Regardless of total 24 hour calorie intake for the day, you could still store body fat after heavy eating if it’s done at certain times and in a certain metabolic state. Although I do prescribe calorie levels based on daily (24 hr) needs, I believe you should also pay attention to 3 hour “windows” when you’re thinking about adjusting your caloric intake. Calories and macro-nutrients (protein/aminos, carbs/sugar and fat) are partitioned into glycogen, muscle or fat tissue or burned immediately depending very much on present moment energy and recovery needs and on what’s going to happen over the next 3 hours or so as the food enters your system. So, if you’re going to be plopping down on the couch to watch football games for the rest of the day and night after that big holiday meal, beware - you might just want to cut back on that next meal a little, especially starches and sugars. Bottom line: It’s okay to eat small amounts of your favorite junk foods once in a while as planned “free meals,” and it’s a good idea to eat more in general from time to time to keep your metabolism humming along. However, your best bet if you’re really serious about fat loss is to avoid huge meals and avoid binge eating in the first place. ALWAYS practice portion control - even when holiday eating. If you ever do slip, don’t beat yourself up, just get right back on the wagon with your next meal and remember, the past is behind you and today is a new day. Your friend and coach, Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT P.S. If you’re interested in burning fat naturally in a healthy, sensible way, then be sure to take a look at Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle - it’s the best place to start your journey: 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 (e-book) 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 here!    Today we have a fitness challenge, for the upcoming holiday season, from author and fitness expert Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS Cheers, padre art +++++++++++++++ Every year as Thanksgiving gets closer, you’ve probably seen the depressing reports: “Most people gain between 5 and 10 pounds of body fat in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.” I’m not sure if this worries you or not, but a lot of people are terrified about getting fatter in the next two months. They anticipate the workouts falling by the wayside and the holiday food calling out to them irresistibly, defeating even the strongest willpower. There’s good news and bad news about this. Good news: According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the average amount gained is much more modest - just over a pound. Bad news: A study by the National Institutes of Health found that this seasonal weight gain - even just a pound - is the kind of weight gain that most people don’t lose when the holidays are over; it simply adds to the “weight creep” that “sneaks up” on you as you get older. People often wonder how it’s possible to wake up one morning at age 40 or 45 and “suddenly” they’re 30 pounds fatter - or more - than they were in college. Mystery solved. Of course, some people really do pack it on over the holidays, but whether its a pound or ten pounds, did you ever ask yourself why does holiday weight gain happen at all? In previous years, I’ve asked my readers and here are some common answers I was given: Holiday Excuse Survey Says… “I’m too busy over the holidays to work out as often as usual.” “I’m more stressed over the holidays, and the food is there, so I eat more.” “I have at least three parties to attend and then there’s Christmas and New Year’s, so it’s impossible to stay on a diet” “No one can tell me not to enjoy myself over the holidays so I’m just going to eat whatever I want.” These answers all have a few things in common: “Either/Or” Thinking and “Reverse Goal Setting” Exposed First, they assume that you can EITHER get in better shape OR enjoy yourself, but not both. Stated in reverse: You can either deprive yourself of holiday enjoyments or gain weight, but it has to be one or the other. The truth is, “either/or thinking” is neurotic thinking and a great killer of fitness programs. Second, these are all excuses or rationalizations. “I’m too busy” for example, is always an excuse, because I have never known someone who was too busy to make time for his her highest life priorities. We all have the same amount of time - 24 hours a day – the real problem is, most people don’t make exercise and healthy eating a priority. And remember, words mean little. Actions reveal a person’s true priorities. Third, none of these are the real reasons most people gain weight over the holidays to begin with. The real reason is because an intention was never set for the opposite: To get in better shape over the holidays. Most people set a “goal” to get in worse shape over the holidays. It’s not consciously set, of course, as few people would intentionally set out to get fatter. They simply do it by default. In their minds, they accept that it must be just about impossible to stay in shape with everything going on over the holiday season, so why bother? Rationing Lies For Holiday Failure Once the decision has been made, then the rationalizing continues: “Why should I deprive myself?” “Family is more important” “Worrying about diet and exercise during the holidays is neurotic” “I don’t care if I gain a few pounds, I’m going to enjoy myself anyway” “It’s only these two or three weeks that I let myself go wild” “I’ll start the first week in January and lose the weight then.” As a result of this “negative goal-setting,” they expect to work out less, eat more and gain a few pounds, and they don’t seem to even consider alternatives. But what would happen if you . . . SET A GOAL TO GET IN BETTER shape over the holidays? What would happen if you decided that it was not an all or nothing proposition and that you could enjoy the holidays and all it has to offer and get in better shape at the same time? And what if you decided that your health and your body were the highest priorities in your life, because you realized that can’t enjoy anything else in life, including family or holidays, if you don’t have your health? Here’s what would happen: You’d get in better shape! I’m not all that different from you just because I’m a bodybuilder and fitness professional. I have many of the same problems, concerns and struggles as you do. Although today I always get in better shape between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, that’s a result of a conscious choice, a close examination of my old belief systems and a lot of action. For me, it all started about eight years ago. For most of my adult life, I wasn’t much of a traveler and I didn’t enjoy flying or staying in hotels. For one thing, I had so many business commitments in the East Coast health club business, that I seldom left town for long, as I had to “tend to the stores.” But I also had a belief that if I traveled, my workouts and nutrition would suffer. After all, “it would be hard to stick with my usual bodybuilding diet, and I wouldn’t have access to my usual gyms”, I told myself. For these reasons, I never did much travel. Then I was forced to take some trips for business reasons. Predictably enough, my nutrition and workouts suffered while I was spending time in airplanes and in hotels. With my experience having confirmed my beliefs, I re-affirmed to myself, “See, traveling is nothing but a pain. You just can’t stay on a diet and training program when you’re out of town.” After several more trips, I noticed that something very negative happened: I surrendered. I had resigned myself to “not bother” while I was on the road. I let my expectations create my reality. But I didn’t let it go on for long. As soon as I became aware of what was happening, I decided that I wouldn’t tolerate it, so I challenged myself and my previous limiting beliefs. I asked myself, “Why the heck not? Why let myself backslide? Why even settle for maintaining? Why not challenge myself to improve while I’m traveling?” The answer was: There was no good reason, there were only excuses. From that day forward, I set a challenge for myself . . . To come back from every trip or vacation in better shape than when I left. Of course there were exceptions, as when I went on a vacation for total R & R. But I never let travel get in my way again. I prepared food that I would eat on the planes so airline food was never an excuse . . . I usually chose hotels that had kitchens, so I could cook my own food. I went food shopping immediately after check-in. I wrote my training schedule and scouted gyms in advance . . . And I actually found myself training harder than usual. No matter where I was training - it could even be some “dungeon” of a gym in the middle of nowhere - it didn’t matter because my mind was focused on improving and looking better when I came home than when I left. I had a goal to motivate me! What do you think happened? It’s not hard to guess: I always came home in better shape than when I left. Since then, my “travel challenge” has become somewhat of a ritual in my life. When I’m away from my “home-base” it becomes a “fitness road trip.” I search the Internet or yellow pages or ask locals to help me find the most hard-core gym nearby wherever I will be staying (Gold’s Gym works for me!) When I get there, I train every bit as hard as if I had a competition just weeks away. I look forward to it now. In fact, this is what led me to my “holiday fitness challenge” idea. Like many people, I travel over the holidays, so I’m automatically in “travel challenge” mode at thanksgiving, Christmastime and New Year’s. But with the additional temptations and busyness that the holidays bring on top of the usual travel stresses, I saw fit to declare a new challenge: “The Holiday Challenge.” The difference was that for my “holiday challenge,” I pledged to not only to return home in better shape than when I left, but to enjoy the holidays to the fullest at the same time. People who think I deprive myself to look the way I do would be shocked: I eat like a KING over the holidays including Pumpkin (or apple) Pie at Thanksgiving and OF COURSE my mom’s famous red and green Jell-O Christmas cake. Then on New Year’s I’m usually toasting champagne and having a blast with friends or family . . . The difference is, I don’t eat like that very often. Every other meal stays right on schedule and I work out hard and consistently over the holidays; I don’t let everything fall apart just because ‘tis the season.’ The idea that you can EITHER enjoy the holidays OR stay in shape - but not both - is wrong, it’s damaging and it’s limiting. Life is not an either or proposition; it’s a matter of balance. Success does not mean going to extremes. Success can be a simple matter of re-examining your beliefs, rearranging your priorities, setting goals, changing the questions you ask yourself and re-evaluating your expectations. Your expectations will become your reality. What are you expecting? Are you expecting success? Are you expecting to be in better shape after holiday parties, celebrations, banquets, dinners, and desserts? If not, then why not? What’s preventing you from enjoying all of the above and still getting in better shape? Do you have a limiting belief which dictates that it’s one or the other? Could it be that you never set a goal, intention or expectation to do it? Could it be that you’re rationalizing or making excuses? If so, then I challenge you to change it this year. As of this writing, there are less than two months until the end of the year. Why not see how much you can improve your physique over the holidays, without depriving yourself of any holiday enjoyments or festivities? Just step up your expectations. Step up your standards. Step up your nutrition. Step up your training. Step up your action. Step up and accept the “Burn The Fat holiday fitness challenge and see what happens! That’s right . . . The First Annual Burn The Fat Holiday Fitness challenge contest is open from Wednesday November 18th to Wednesday November 25th. Over the course of a “50-Day Burn” which spans all three major holidays - Thanksgiving (US), Christmas and New Year's - you'll have the motivation, the accountability and structured program to end the year strong, start the new year on the foot and possibly get in the best shape of your life. Even better, you'll be able to eat delicious Holiday Food and enjoy yourself to the fullest at the same time because this is a lifestyle program which allows your favorite foods in moderation and balance. And the best part of all: I'm sending the winners of the contest to Negril Jamaica to show off their new bodies on the beach in 2010! Taking the Burn The Fat Challenge is simple. You can enter the contest two ways: (1) Purchase the Burn The Fat e-book HERE: (2) Join the Burn The Fat Inner Circle fitness support community ("contest central"): You'll be automatically enrolled with either purchase. Or, if you want ALL the contest details and the FULL list of prizes, visit the contest page HERE: ++++++++++++++ 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 us here.  A Letter from Your Belly Fat 11/01/2010
 Here is a guest blog post from Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS. Author and trainer, Craig shares some insights about that ubiquitous villain, belly fat. Enjoy, padre art +++++++++++++++++ By line: By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS Dear Friend, This is a letter from your ol' pal, belly fat. We had a great run this summer, didn't we? Lots of good times, great food, and plain ol' sitting around eating too much. Well, I'm thinking about sticking around another year if you don't mind. But you might need to get a bigger pair of pants, as I was thinking about expanding my place down here. So do me a favor, avoid that interval training you were thinking of doing. The last time you did that stuff, I nearly had to look for a new place to live. I felt like the Wicked Witch of the West in the land of Oz. Did you hear me yelling, "Help me, I'm melting!"? Instead, stick to that slow cardio stuff. Sure I get a little sweaty, and the ol' brain up there thinks it's doing "a real fat burning workout", but it's never enough to melt me outta here. Another thing, keep listening to those experts who say strength training doesn't burn body fat. Since research shows they're wrong, if you added strength training to your program, you'd practically need to throw me a going away party! After each one of those superset workouts you tried last January it felt like someone lit a match under our collective butt. I was burning up down here! But boy oh boy, I sure was glad you gave that up and went back to just lifting utensils and not dumbells. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to celebrate another summer together this year. Sometimes I wonder, what did you ever do in college without me, your trusted belly fat? Back then, you were probably one of those people that couldn't wait to get to the beach to show off your body, not like these days. Nope, stay in the shade and keep the cover-up clothes on, that's the way to go now. Besides, its a lot closer to the cold beer and the BBQ when you're sitting in the shade avoiding all the fun down on the beach. Well, it sure was good catching up with you. I'm sure we'll be in touch more often, as long as you stay away from that Turbulence Training workout routine. Brings a tear to my eye whenever I even think about that workout program and all the belly fat it's burned. Heck, it's fried more belly fat than a frying pan! So again, if you want to keep your dear old belly around for another year and another summer, don't use Turbulence Training - otherwise, its all over pal, and you'll never see me again. Belly Fat says, "Don't use this" Your friend and spare tire, Belly Fat PS - Seriously, don't go near that Turbulence Training program unless you want to see me, Thunder Thighs, Manboobs, Jigg Lee Arm Fat, and Luv Handles pack our bags and hit the highway. It will be a sad farewell, and you'd be stuck with ripped abs, gorgeous glutes, and toned arms, and you know how much attention those guys get from the opposite sex. Who needs it, I say. 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. By Tom Venuto Holy Grail Body Transformation “How can I gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?” That’s right up there with “How do I get six pack abs” as one of the most frequently asked fitness questions of all time. The problem is, when you ask it, you get all kinds of conflicting answers – even from experts who are supposed to know these things. So what’s the deal? Is it really possible to lose fat and build muscle simultaneously? Short answer: Yes it’s possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Long answer: It’s difficult and it’s complicated, unless you really know what you’re doing. Allow me to explain . . . First we have the issue of whether you really lose fat and gain muscle at the “same time.” Well, yes, if your definition of the “same time” is say, a month or 12 weeks. But in that case, you’re probably not gaining muscle at the “same time” literally speaking, as in, right now this very moment you are reading this, or 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for months in a row. The best explanation for what’s really happening is that you alternate between periods of caloric surplus (anabolism) and caloric deficit (catabolism) and the net result is a gain in muscle and a loss in body fat. You see, if you stay in a calorie surplus, it’s the body’s natural tendency for body fat and lean body mass to go up together. And if you stay in a calorie deficit, it’s your body’s natural tendency for body fat and lean body mass to go down together. There may be exceptions, but the general rule is that it is usually very difficult to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time – the mechanisms are mostly antagonistic to one another. When big increases in muscle and big decreases in fat are seen at the same time, it’s almost always the result of “unusual conditions” – I call them X factors. The 4 X-Factors
I’m not a gambling man, but I’ll place a wager on this any day: I’ll bet that in 99% of the cases of large muscle gains with concurrent large fat losses, one or more of these x factors were present. That’s not all! There are actually 5 more X factors related to your body composition and diet status (the X2 factors). I talk about those in my new program, the Holy Grail Body Transformation System. More on that later. So you’re not a beginner, you don’t take roids, you’re not a genetic freak and you have no muscle memory to take advantage of. Are you S.O.L? Well, I do want you to be realistic about your goals, but . . . There IS a way for the average person to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. The Secret: You have to change your “temporal perspective!” Traditionally nutritionists and fitness pros have only looked at calorie balance in terms of 24 hour periods. At midnight, you could tally up the calories like a shopkeeper closing out his register, and if the balance were positive, you’d say you were in a surplus for the day. If the balance were negative, you’d say you were in a deficit for the day. But it’s entirely possible that you might pass through periods of “within-day” surplus where you were in a highly anabolic state (for example, you eat the biggest, highest carb meal of the day after your workout), and you were in a deficit the rest of the day. Furthermore, exercise changes everything. certain types of training will alter your hormones and physiological response to how you handle calories and nutrients. If you did intense weight training, and you timed your nutrient intake just right, isn’t it possible that you could gain a small amount of muscle during those anabolic hours, while losing fat the rest of the day? Granted it might only be grams or ounces – but what if you kept that up for a week? A month? Three months? As you pan out and look at the bigger picture, what if most days of the week you were in a deficit for the entire day, and on some days of the week you were in a surplus? If so, then isn’t it possible that over the course of the week, you’d have a small net gain of muscle and loss of body fat as a result of the caloric fluctuation? These within-day and within-week phases are what I refer to in my new body transformation program as nutritional microcycles and mesocycles. If you also had a primary goal with a longer term focus of several months, say 12 weeks or 16 weeks, that would be a nutritional macrocycle. What I’ve just described is nutritional periodization. Some people call it cyclical dieting. It’s where you manipulate your calories (primarily by fluctuating carbohydrate intake, hence “carb cycling”) in order to intentionally zig-zag your way through periods of surplus and deficit. The end result: muscle gain and fat loss during the same time period! I know that someone out there is having a hissy-fit because I’ve only talked about calories: deficits and surpluses. Rightfully so. Calories matter but there’s more to it than calories – most importantly, hormones and “nutrient partitioning.” If you’re in a calorie deficit you are going to pull energy from your body. The question is: From WHERE? If your hormones are out of whack because you’re eating crap and you’re living an unhealthy lifestyle, you could lose more muscle than fat in a deficit and gain almost pure fat, not muscle, in a surplus! But WHAT IF you could manipulate within day energy balance, use nutritional periodization AND control your hormones with food and lifestyle strategies? NOW we are seeing how concurrent muscle gain and fat loss are starting to look possible! Make no mistake – concurrent muscle gain and fat loss is a difficult goal to achieve. It’s the “Holy Grail of Fitness Goals.” The good news: difficult does not mean impossible. Or as George Santayana said, “The difficult is that which can be done immediately, the impossible, that which takes a little longer.” If you’d like to learn more about losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, I just recorded a fantastic introduction to the subject in a one hour interview and you can get it for free as a gift from my new website because I want to get the word out about my brand new Holy Grail Body Transformation System. In my new program, you’ll hear all the details about nutritional periodization, cyclical dieting, hormonal manipulation, within day energy balance, nutrient partitioning, AND the all the X factors, including the 5 “X2-Factors” – which are the keys to gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time. You’ll also get my new “TNB” training system, which was originally published as a workout in Men’s Fitness magazine. Then I expanded it into a total program that has never been seen before except in my member’s only inner circle. My new free report that you can download now in MP3 and PDF (transcript) is available for a limited time this week over at The Holy Grail website. It’s a great introduction to the program and you’ll pick up some great tips just from this free report alone. Download your Free “Holy Grail Body Transformation Revealed” report  |   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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